


Dragon Ball Steven

by Artdirector123



Category: Dragon Ball, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Also has kid goku and young vegeta moments, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Family, Gen, Rose acting like a mom, a dash of tiny piccolo too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-05-18 00:55:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 68
Words: 115,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5891908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artdirector123/pseuds/Artdirector123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of the crystal gems taking care of Steven, he is looked after and trained by Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo!...Kami help the poor boy...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Begining

“Is this good?” Goku called from the ground as he held up the wooden beam up against the frame of the house.   
“No, a little to the left, Kakarot,” Vegeta called down from his place hovering next to the frame with a hammer and a sack of nails. Goku moved a few inches to Vegeta’s right. “NO! Your other left, you idiot!” he snapped.   
“But I only have one left... ” Goku responded with confusion.   
Vegeta growled. “Dammit Kakarot! Just move in the opposite direction of where you are!” he barked.  
“Jeeze, alright Vegeta,” he said moving, “No need to get huffy about it.” With that, the beam was positioned perfectly next to the one connecting two of the frames of the house they were currently building. They had been working on turning the temple into a house for months, but the work had been going excruciatingly slow for a number of reasons. The biggest reason being that they didn’t know the first thing about building a house to begin with!  
“Finally,” Vegeta huffed, taking out a nail and positioning it on the side of the horizontal wooden beam. He raised his hammer and slammed it down on the nail, resulting in a large crack splitting through most of the wood. Vegeta’s eye twitched with rage. “TA HELL WITH THIS!” he shouted, throwing the hammer as hard as he could. It flew over the temple and landed miles away, an explosion and a car alarm sounded in the distance when it landed.  
“Vegeta! That was our last hammer!” Goku scolded as he floated up to eye level with the Irate saiyan, “Now what are we going to do?”  
“Don’t know, don’t care. I’m sick of this little project anyways. Why are we even doing this?!” Vegeta snapped.  
“We’re doing it for Steven,” Piccolo responded, walking up to them, “He needs a place to live and he can’t spend the rest of his life sleeping in the back of a van!”  
“Yes, but aren’t there humans specifically designated to do this kind of work?” Vegeta asked, “I don’t see why I should spend my days doing nothing but getting splinters and a headache when I could be out getting rid of those pesky gem beasts. You know, the ones that are threatening the planet that we swore to protect?”  
“I’m sorry, but do you want even more of those humans running around the temple for the next few months?” Piccolo questioned, narrowing his eyes at the saiyan, “Because we already have enough of them to deal with, what with the kid’s dad and that banshee Goku keeps bringing around.”  
“Hey!” Goku cried, “Don’t say that about Chichi! She’s really nice, a great fighter, and an amazing cook!”  
“Shut up Kakarot,” Vegeta said, rolling his eyes.   
“What’s with you guys? I thought you liked humans. That’s why we protect them, right?” Goku asked. Over the past few years Goku noticed a huge change in his teammates’ demeanors about the inhabitants of the world they claimed to protect. Ever since Rose died, they had become much more reclusive and cold towards mankind. Not that they hadn’t been reclusive before, but at least they interacted with humans every once and awhile. Vegeta even used to hang out with that Vidalia girl for a while!  
“Maybe that’s why you do, but we have other reasons,” Piccolo responded. Just then, they saw an overweight man with a sunburn walking towards them. “Speaking of humans…” Piccolo muttered as they floated down to meet him.  
“Hey, Greg!” Goku called cheerfully as he touched down in front of the much shorter man.  
“Hey guys...” the man said nervously, awkwardly waving at the three aliens. “Nice weather, ain’t it. How are things going?”   
“What do you want, Universe?” Vegeta bit out sharply, arms folded across his chest.   
Greg swallowed as the spiky-haired Saiyan glared at him. “W-well, I just thought because you guys have been working so hard that you might want a snack and something to drink! Also, Steven has something to show you,” he explained.  
“Really? Awesome! Thanks Greg!” Goku chirped.  
“Fine. Let’s see whatever the boy has to show us,” Vegeta said, walking past the balding man. The trio walked up to the van where the little five year old was sitting. The shirt covering him was too big for him, but they didn’t have much else for him. Most of the clothes that the three aliens had worn when they were his age either the wrong size, worn out, or both. In the child’s lap was an ukulele. He looked up at the three aliens before him both nervously and in awe.  
“Hey, Steven! What’s up?” Goku said ruffling Steven’s hair.  
“Stevens been really excited about getting to live with and train with you guys. He even wrote a song for you guys,” Greg explained.  
“Really? Awesome! Let’s hear it!” Goku exclaimed.  
The little boy hesitated. Looking down at his feet. “Come on Steven, show them what you wrote,” Greg encouraged.  
“Yeah! We’d love to hear your song,” Goku urged.  
“Go on, boy. We’ll be disappointed if turns out we walked down here with the promise of a song and get nothing instead,” Vegeta said. Piccolo jabbed him with his elbow. “What? It’s true!” Vegeta snapped.  
With that, Steven gathered up his courage and began strumming his instrument.  
“If you’re evil and you’re on the rise,  
You can count on the four of us taking you down  
From red ribbon to space invaders  
Pick a fight with us, you’ll regret it later!  
We. Are the Z Fighters!  
And we'll always save the day!  
Even when we fall  
We get stronger anyway!  
That's why the people of. this. world.  
Believe in:  
Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo,  
And STEVEN!” the boy finished, pumping his fist in the air.  
“Wooo! Awesome job, Steven!” Goku cheered and picked up the boy while Piccolo clapped lightly and Vegeta grinned. Steven giggled as Goku sat him on his shoulders.  
“Usually human music just hurts my ears, but that wasn't too bad,” Piccolo commented before turning to Vegeta. “What do you think? Was it worth your precious time, oh mighty prince?” he asked sarcastically.  
Vegeta rolled his eyes at the Namekian and his tail twitched. “Oh quiet, you. Of course it was. He did fine,” Vegeta quipped, “Now where are those snacks we were promised…”


	2. ET no phone

“Steven I told them your family was nuclear!” Connie explained.  
“Nuclear!” Steven cried in offense, “Why would you say that? Just because they can blow things up doesn't mean they’re made of uranium!”  
“No, Steven,” Connie said in exasperation, “A nuclear family is a family consisting of a mother, a father, and their children.”  
“But why would you say that? I don’t have a mom!” Steven asked.  
“I was worried that my parents wouldn’t approve of me hanging out with a boy that had three aliens that could blow things up with a flick of their wrist looking after him…” she explained.  
“Why wouldn’t they?” Steven asked in confusion, “Wouldn't they be glad that their daughter’s friend would have three super heroes to protect them?”  
“...It’s complicated Steven…” she explained, “We can talk about this later, but for right now we need to figure out a way out of this...we can’t just tell them that your mom is dead now!”  
“I know! Maybe we can get Piccolo to help!” Steven said, “He does a killer impression of Chichi!”  
The two raced downstairs in search of the Namekian. Although the wasn't there, a particular prince of Saiyans exited the temple door and into the house.  
“What are you two up to this time?” he asked.  
“Vegeta!” Steven cheered happily, “We need your help. We need to find Piccolo so he can talk to Connie’s mom and-”  
“Why can’t I just talk to her?” Vegeta asked, cutting him off.  
“Well that might not be a good idea, actually. You see-” but before he could say another word, Vegeta snatched the cell phone from them and held it up to his ear.  
“Yes, what do you want?” he snapped. Connie’s palm met her forehead and Steven physically paled.  
He paused for a few seconds to listen to Connie’s mom. “This is Vegeta, Pri-” Vegeta started but noticed the children desperately shaking their heads no. He narrowed his eyes at them before continuing. “I mean, Steven’s uncle…” Vegeta paused again. Then his eyes grew wide. “Steven’s mom?!” he sputtered, “Hold on…” Vegeta covered the receiver and turned to glare at the children. “Care to explain?” he asked.  
“Connie may have said I have a nuclear family…” Steven explained sheepishly.  
Vegeta growled and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Whatever…” he said, before returning to the phone. “I’m sorry but you can’t talk to steven’s mom she’s…out training…in the mountains of China” he lied. “When will she be back?” he repeated. The two children sweated nervously. “Uh…,” Vegeta started before stating bluntly, “Never. She’s never coming back.”   
With that, both children buried their faces in their hands. They could both hear Connie’s mom’s reaction from the phone. “We’re doomed…” Connie muttered, “I don’t know how this could possibly get any worse…”  
“I’m sorry, I can’t talk anymore,” Vegeta said, “I have to go...teach the kids how to beat people up. Bye.” With that Vegeta hung up.  
“And It just got worse…” Connie sighed.   
“Sorry. I panicked,” Vegeta responded completely unapologeticly as he handed her back the phone. “Anyways, come on you two,” he said.  
“Huh? Why?” Steven asked.  
“Well I probably got your friend in trouble by telling her mom I was teaching her to beat people up. Might aswell get in trouble for something you actually did,” he explained, dragging Steven and Connie along.


	3. Cookie cat madness

Goku pulled back on the beast's horns, causing it to rear up on its four hind legs. It roared in pain and fury as his feet dug into the back of its neck. The green gem tried to buck him off only resulting in more pain for itself. "Woowee! Ride em', Cowboy!" he called happily. The eight legged creature finally had enough and rolled over onto its back, trying to crush him. "Oh crap!" he cried jumping off of it at the last minute. He then landed on the creature's stomach, knocking the wind out of it. As it gasped, it managed to kick him off, and he tumbled to the side. The creature quickly recovered, and loomed over Goku as he got up. It reared up to attack him, roaring loudly.

It was cut off, however, by a well aimed spear shooting through its head. The creature disappeared in a puff of smoke, and a small gemstone fell to the ground along with the spear. "Nice aim, Chichi!" Goku called as he went to pick up the stone and put it in a ring box.

"Thank you, Sweetie. I have been practicing a lot lately," she said with a smile, "It's just too bad this thing had to interrupt us in the middle of our picnic."

"Yeah, Sorry about that," he apologized, "I just don't get why this keeps happening. Whenever we try to do something together, one of those gem monsters always seems to attack us."

"Oh don't worry," she said, standing on her toes to peck him on the cheek, "It's not like you caused this to happen….right?"

Goku smiled at her. "As far as I know, nope!" he chirped, "Well, I think I ought to get going. Piccolo's gonna be mad if I miss training time with him, and I have to check up on Steven too." he returned the peck on the check before lifting of of the ground.

"Alright," Chichi sighed, "Just remeber pick up Gohan from preschool in an hour, alright?"

"You got it! See ya later Chich'!" he called with a salute as he floated away, and flew back to beach city. She waved to him as he disappeared.

When Goku got close to the temple he quickly noticed the overturned semi truck not to far from it with the cookie cat logo on the side. The truck's engine was currently on fire and the side was badly damaged. "Uh oh!" he thought, "Something terrible must have happened! I hope everyone's alright…"

"Steven? Vegeta? Piccolo? Are you guys alright?" he called as he climbed up the stairs. He tore off the front door by accident as he attempted to get inside quickly. "Woops…"he muttered.

"Damn it, Goku! That's the third door this month!" Piccolo addressed, snapping out of his meditation, "What is it with you Saiyans and destroying doors? If the temple door didn't open on its own you two would have found a way to rip it off its hinges by now."

"Piccolo! You're alright!" Goku said with a smile, ignoring the Namekian's rant.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked.

"Well I saw a wrecked semi-truck outside and I was worried that something bad happened," he explained.

"Nah, that's just the work of the royal pain in the butt over there," the green alien responded pointing to the kitchen. Goku followed his finger to see Vegeta trying to stuff dozens of cookie cats into the freezer. A couple hundred of the treats still sat on the floor next to him.

"Uh...Vegeta? What are you doing?" the taller saiyan asked, cocking his head to the side, "And where did you get all of this?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to put away these things for Steven!" he snapped as he now attempted to shut the freezer door.

"Why do you have so many though?"Goku asked, gazing at the large pile still on the floor, "Don't tell me you stole that truck outside?"

"He heard that Cookie Cats were going out of business so he stole an entire shipment for Steven," Piccolo confirmed.

"Vegeta!" Goku cried.

Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest as Goku gave him a scolding look. "It was either this or have to listen to the boy whine about it for the next month," he said, "The decision was pretty obvious, really." the freezer door then popped open again and the ice cream spilled out. "Grrrr! Stupid ice cream!" he shouted, slamming a hand on the counter and causing yet another crack.

"Vegeta, you know stealing is wrong. You need to return these...or at least pay for them," Goku said, folding his arms with a stern expression.

"I'm afraid both of those things are pretty much impossible at this point," Piccolo said, "If he returns them, he'll get arrested for assault and property damage. Seeing as we aren't citizens here let alone human, I doubt we'll be getting off on parole. If he tries to pay for them...Well we don't exactly have the money for that anyways."

"Alright then…" Goku relented with a sigh, "So what do we do now?"

"Well first, we need to get rid of the evidence," Vegeta said, "If you could finish emptying out the truck and get rid of it, that would be great."

"And after that?" Goku asked.

"Figure out what to do with all this god damn ice cream," Vegeta stated, kicking one of the cookies.

"Why not the arctic?" Goku suggested, "There are plenty of warp pads in caves there. Plus they'll keep all year round."

"Alright Kakarot," Vegeta said with a nod, "You can go ahead and get rid of the truck. Piccolo and I'll store the ice cream."

"Please leave me out of this," the Namekian grunted, opening one eye to look at the Saiyan.

"No. Now help me or I'll just store them in your room," Vegeta said, picking up about fifty.

"Fine," Piccolo muttered, getting up.

While they dealt with the ice cream, Goku stepped outside to deal with the truck. He couldn't help but feel wrong in doing this, even if he really didn't have a choice. "I hope Chichi doesn't find out about this…" he thought as he flew down to clear out the truck of the remaining cookie cats.


	4. Goku's Lion

“What the hell…” Piccolo muttered as he looked at the sight before him. His eyes were wide in surprise, and the two Saiyans standing next to him bore similar expressions, though Vegeta’s was a bit more reserved. Steven was standing before them right next to a giant pink lion. It’s eyes seemed to glow as it stared at them unblinkingly.  
“Isn’t he cool guys?” Steven exclaimed.  
“Well, I’ve never seen anything like him,” Goku said scratching the back of his head as he approached it. “I guess he is pretty cool!” he said, “He reminds me of cotton candy to be honest.”  
“That’s what I thought too! So can I keep him?” Steven asked, excitement in his voice.  
“No,” Vegeta stated bluntly, arms still crossed, “Now put that back where you found it. You don’t know where it’s been.”   
“Aw please?” Steven pleaded, “Piccolo, you’ll let me keep him right?”  
“Actually, I’m gonna have to side with Vegeta on this one,” Piccolo said folding his own arms across his chest, “Doesn't matter if he looks more like a plush toy than a beast, he’s still a wild animal. Honestly, there's really nothing stopping him from biting your hand off.”   
“What? No he’s totally tame! Look, I even taught him to say ‘I love you’!” Steven argued. He then proceeded to put his hands on the lion’s lips and move them around as he said “I love you,” between clenched teeth.  
Vegeta pinched the bridge of his nose. “Steven, stop fooling around with the oversized cat,” he groaned.  
“Seriously, who did you think that was going to fool?” Piccolo questioned.  
“Aw, I love you too, ya big lug!” Goku crooned as he picked up the big cat in a bear hug. The lion looked startled, but remained limp in the Saiyan’s arms. With that, the two other aliens swiftly smacked their palms against their foreheads.  
“Kakarot, put that down before you give yourself fleas again,” Vegeta snapped.  
“Come one you guys, he’s not that bad. And his fur is really soft! I say we let Steven keep him,” Goku reasoned, “Besides, we’re all stronger than him anyways. We can protect Steven if he tries to hurt him.” Steven whooped in delight.  
“The fact that you want to keep it makes me hate the idea more,” Vegeta retorted.  
“My answer is still no,” Piccolo reaffirmed.  
“Aw…” Goku pouted, still holding the pink cat, “You guys are no fun.” His frown dissipated however when an idea came to mind. “Well, if Steven can’t keep it, I will!” he announced, “Chichi and I have the perfect place up by the barn for this little guy, and Gohan would just love him!”  
“How is that any differ-” Vegeta began.  
“Fine,” Piccolo interrupted.  
Vegeta looked at Piccolo in shock. “What?!” he sputtered, “You can’t be serious!”  
“I am. Really, it’s kind of pointless to try and stop him. Don’t you remember the last time we tried to control Goku?” he responded, “Besides, he already gave his kid a goddamn dragon. I doubt a pink lion would be any worse.”  
Vegeta sighed in exasperation. “Fine...Keep the giant flea bag. See if I care,” he relented, pinching the bridge of his nose, “But if I find that thing in the temple, we’re having roasted cat for dinner.” Steven and Goku cheered as the four of them walked back to the warp pad, Goku still carrying the lion like a stuffed animal.


	5. Practice

Steven took his position, his feet firmly planted on the ground. Determination was written on his face. “Ka-me….” he began, “Ha-meeeee…..HA!” Steven thrust his hands out towards the ocean expecting a huge blast of energy, but nothing happened. Not even puff of smoke. “Aww….not again,” he whined, his shoulders slumping over.  
“Hey Steven,” a voice called, “Whatcha’ up to?” The little half-gem turned to see goku peaking out from behind some rocks.  
“Hi Goku,” he said, disappointment still clear in his voice, “I was trying to figure out how to do the kamehameha wave.”  
Goku’s eyebrows knit together. “Steven, didn't I tell you you were too young to be trying out that move?” he asked, “It’s a really dangerous attack. If you’re not careful, you could really hurt yourself or others.”  
“But you were able to perform it perfectly when you were twelve!” Steven argued as he sat down on the rocks, “And all your human friends can do it too!”  
Goku sat down next to him. “Yeah but I’m a Saiyan. It's different,” Goku explained, “I was lifting cars and fighting dinosaurs at that age. Also, it took my friends awhile to figure out how to do it.”  
“I just want to be useful,” Steven explained, arms folded and looking down, “I can’t even summon my gem weapon. I’m leagues behind most human fighters I know too! Heck, Gohan’s probably stronger than me too and he’s only four! What kind of superhero am I if I can’t even compete with a four year old?”  
Goku placed a hand on the boy’s back and smiled. “One who’s not being fair to himself,” he said, “You shouldn’t be comparing yourself to others like that. You’re not half Saiyan like Gohan, and you’re not as old or as well practiced as Krillin or Tien. Tein’s actually an even worse comparison for yourself considering he has advantages most humans don’t like his third eye.” Steven nodded, though his expression didn't change. “If it makes you feel any better, you’re about as strong as Krillin was when he was your age,” Goku said.  
“Really?” Steven asked.   
Goku nodded. “And you know what else?” Goku prompted. He then glanced around as if to see if anyone was watching. “I actually didn't win my first tournament,” he whispered to the boy.  
Steven gasped in surprise. “No way!” he denied.  
“It’s true!” he continued, “Even with your mother training me since she found me, I wasn't able to defeat Master Roshi at my first World Martial Arts tournament. Actually, not even Tien was able to defeat him!” “What I’m getting at is, just because you aren't that strong now, doesn't mean you won’t ever be. Stuff like this just takes time and effort,” Goku explained, “Who knows. Maybe you’ll be able to master your gem weapon someday too! That’s something none of the other Z fighters are able to do!”  
“Yeah!” Steven cheered.  
“Now how’s about we go get a snack from Fish Stew Pizza,” Goku said getting up. He pulled some cards out of his pocket. “I think we have enough for one free pizza!” he continued.  
“What are we waiting for? Let's go!” Steven chirped, jumping to his feet. The boy began running in the direction of the of the boardwalk, Goku chasing after him.


	6. Wacky Arms

“Pleeeeeaaase?” Steven begged.  
“No,” the Namekian stated, continuing to meditate.  
“Pretty please?” The boy tried again, leaning on the green alien’s weighted shoulder pad.  
“I said no, Steven,” he repeated, not even bothering to open his eyes.  
“But it’s a really awesome trick and Connie hasn’t seen it!” he argued as he pointed to his best friend. He had brought her here specifically to see Piccolo perform this for them. Gohan had also tagged along to see the Namekian’s trick. “Gohan wants to see it too!” he added.  
“Too bad,” he said.  
“Aww…..” Steven whined as he slid off the weighted training gear. He then turned towards the two other children. “Sorry guys...I guess he really means it,” he informed as he walked towards them.  
Both of their faces fell in disappointment. “Darn…” Connie sighed, “Well I guess we can do something else instead. Maybe you can show me that new video game you got?”  
“Yeah, I guess so,” Steven said smiling, “Might as well make the best of it while you guys are here, right?” Connie nodded and the two turned to go upstairs.  
Gohan, however, was not so quick to give up. He marched over to the Namekian with a look of determination on his face. When they noticed Gohan didn't follow them, Connie and Steven turned to look at him in confusion. The little half Saiyan swiftly jumped up onto Piccolo’s lap. Piccolo opened his eyes to look at the child in confusion, which he quickly regretted. For Gohan had decided to use his secret weapon. One that even his father was not powerful enough to withstand: Gohan stuck out his lip in a pout and gave Piccolo, his biggest, saddest puppy dog eyes. “Won’t you please show us the trick, Mr. Piccolo?” he pleaded, clasping his hands together for better effect. At that, Steven and Connie shared a mischievous smile.  
Piccolo gulped. This kid had pulled the dirtiest trick in the book. He looked away from the the four year old’s begging expression. “Gohan I said--” he bit out as he tried to look away. However, as he did so, he came face to face with Connie wearing a similar expression. “Please, Mr. Piccolo?” she asked sweetly.   
Piccolo attempted to avoid her stare as well by looking the other way, but found himself flanked by Steven who had the same expression. “Pleeeeaaaase?” he begged, whimpering slightly for effect.  
Piccolo growled before sighing in defeat. “Fine…” he relented, and the children whooped in delight. “But I’m only doing this once, alright?” he warned. The children nodded, excitement clear in their eyes. Piccolo floated back down to the ground before standing up. He held his arms up in the air, took a deep breath, and FWLOOOSH! His arms extended into the air and waved around like they were made of rubber.  
The children laughed and cheered, while Piccolo rolled his eyes. After a few moments, his arms retracted back to their normal proportions and became less elastic. He then folded them across his chest.  
“That was amazing!” Connie said between giggles, “It was like one of those wacky arm waving inflatable tube men they have at car sales!”  
“I’m so glad I you find me as entertaining as a ploy for selling vehicles,” Piccolo said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.  
“It really was cool, though!” Steven said, “You rock!”  
“You’re the best Mr. Piccolo!” Gohan chirped as he hugged the Namekian’s leg.   
Piccolo gave a look of surprise at them, before a small smile worked it’s way onto his face. “Thanks kids,” he said.


	7. A Little Monkey in the Woods

Many years ago…  
Rose wandered through the forests of Mount Pizao in the early morning light. She had received a message from her old friend Kami. A huge disaster had struck this area. Some kind of monster had attacked the night before. However, it looks like she had come too late. The forest was in ruins. From clearings of charred foliage to trees ripped out by their roots, devastation was everywhere. In all her lonely years on this planet, Rose had never seen such destruction...at least not since the war.  
It had been a brutal fight for this planet. Rose Quartz had given up everything for the people of this world, including her friends. Any that she hadn’t lost in battle, she lost to the slow process of corruption. She couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she would have to face one of their monstrous forms this time. She certainly hoped not.  
Huge ape-like tracks were embedded into the forest floor. Rose began tracing them back to their origin in hopes of finding the monster's nest. Rose gripped her sword as a sinking feeling had overcome her. She had seen these tracks before, but she couldn’t quite remember where.  
As she continued to follow the tracks, she swore she could hear crying. A look of determination crossed her face as she picked up her pace and chased after the noise. Soon she came to a clearing not far from the ruins of a small house on a hill. In the center of the clearing, a little naked boy sat crouched over a body. Fear and anger gripped her heart as she noticed a tail protruding from the boys back. “No. Not again!” she thought to herself. Now she remembered where she had seen those tracks before. They were the tracks of an oozaru, and this boy was a Saiyan. She had dealt with their kind once before. Hundreds of years ago, a small group of saiyan warriors had landed, planning to purge the planet. She fought hard and long against them, and in the process had lost her last and closest friend of all: Pearl. She thought they had given up. But now they were back, and she noted bitterly that one of those monsters had already taken the life of an innocent. Rose drew her sword and stepped forward, eyes cold and steely. The noise of the metal drew the attention of the tiny invader. To Rose’s surprise when he turned to face her, she saw nothing of what seen from the other Saiyan warriors on his face. There was no glare of malicious intent, no sadistic smile, not even a look of cold indifference or superiority. What she saw instead was the tear stricken face of a child filled with grief and fear. The boy sniffled as he looked at her, confused and utterly distraught. Rose’s eyes softened and she lowered her sword slightly as she looked upon him.   
There was a moment of silence between them. The only noise being the call of a distant bird and the boys own sniffling. Finally, he spoke up. “Wh-who are you?” he asked.  
“My name is Rose Quartz,” she stated calmly, though still kept her guard up. He may not have ill intent, but that doesn't mean he might not lash out in fear. “Might I ask who you are?” she inquired.  
“My name’s Goku…” he said quietly turning back to the still body on the ground.   
Rose knitted her brow together in confusion. Goku wasn't a Saiyan name. It wasn't even close. If she remember correctly, it was a human name that meant “cloud”. “Goku, can you tell me what you are doing here?” she asked.  
“Well…” he started, “My grandpa and I lived out here…” He began to choke up as he continued. “B-but I woke up in a clearing this morning without my cloths a-and when I got back,” he sniffled, “I-I found my grandpa like this!” The boy started sobbing again as he moved aside for Rose to see what had happened. Rose gasped as she gaze upon the broken body of the old man. His ribcage was crushed and his neck was broken along with his legs. “Please,” she heard Goku beg, “Is there anything you can do to help him?” There was a spark of hope in his eyes.  
Rose’s heart ached with pity for the child. “I’m so sorry,” she said, “but I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do at this point.”  
The hope disappeared from his eyes and was once again replaced with despair. “This is all my fault!” he sobbed, “My grandpa told me not to look at the moon, but I didn't listen!”  
“Your grandpa told you not to?” she asked. So this grandpa of his knew about this power. Was he a Saiyan too? How many Saiyans were on earth?  
The boy nodded. “When you look at the full moon, a monster appears. That's what my grandpa told me,” he said solemnly, “But I didn't listen. I looked at moon last night before I fell asleep and the monster attacked!”  
Rose raised an eyebrow. Did he even know? “Do you remember what happened after you fell asleep? What the monster looked like perhaps?” she asked.  
“No,” he said, “I slept the entire night.”  
“Goku…” she asked carefully, “Do you know what you are? Like what kind of creature?”  
Goku looked at her in confusion, his tears being put on pause. “Of course. I’m a human, just like my grandpa,” he said as if it were obvious, “Why? Are you not one?”  
Rose’s eyes widened. He had no idea what he was. She, however, did. He was not a monster, or a killer, but a lost, sad little boy. And now she knew what she had to do. She couldn’t leave him like this. “No I’m not,” she said, “I’m what’s known as a gem. That’s why I have this stone.” She pointed to the gemstone on her stomach. “And I’m here to help you Goku,” she said.  
He continued to look at her in confusion. “But…” he said, “How are you going to do that? You already said you can’t fix him.”  
“Well first, I’m going to help you give him a proper burial,” she explained, “and second, I want to help you through your pain, if you’ll allow me. You’ve been through a lot and you’re still very young. You shouldn't be out here all alone in such a state, especially considering that it looks like your home has been severely damaged as well. If you’d like, you can come and live with me. I’ll make sure you’re taken care of and have everything you need.”  
Goku seemed to think for a second before speaking again. “Can I at least take some things with me? Or come back here if I want too?” he asked.  
Rose smiled. “Of course,” she said gently. With that the boy nodded. Rose stood up and held out a hand for him. “Come along now,” she said, “Let’s go find a good burial spot...after we get you some cloths.” Goku wiped his eyes and smiled slightly before taking her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this feels trip is how Goku met Rose...and what happened to the Crystal gems. I plan on doing a backstory for Piccolo and Vegeta sometime in the future. Next one should be about how Greg met the Z fighters. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this story! Let me know what you thing, and feel free to leave suggestions.


	8. Over the Fence

It was a cool summer night. the sound of crickets chirping and waves lapping against the shore filled the air. Greg ran down the boardwalk in search of the giant, pink haired woman from earlier. T-shirt in hand, he skidded to a halt as he reached a fence. A sign hung on it That read “Keep out! Trespassers will be” the next few words were blacked out and underneath the words “Escorted off the property” were written in a different handwriting. It was then that he noticed a small figure on the other side. It looked like a child of some kind. He couldn’t make out much else because of the distance. Maybe the kid had seen her. “Hey!” Greg called as he climbed over the fence, “Little kid! Can I talk to you?”  
The child turned to look at him for a second, before seeming to disappear in a rush of wind. Greg blinked in surprise. He looked around wildly for the small child, but he was nowhere to be seen. Then he felt a rush of wind from behind him. Greg yelped and turned around to find himself face to face with a little green being with antenna looking up at him. “Um…Hi?” Greg greeted awkwardly. The little green creature didn't respond. It just stared up at him. “Uh, I was wondering if you could tell me if you’ve seen a tall, pink haired woman around here?” he asked.  
Once again, the child did not answer his question. There was a minute of awkward silence before the child finally spoke. It pointed at his guitar and said “What’s that?”  
“Oh, this is my guitar!” Greg explained, turning the instrument around so the little green creature could get a better look. “It's a musical instrument,” he explained, strumming it slightly, “It’s not plugged in though, so it doesn’t sound as good as if it were.”  
The child nodded. “I want it,” he stated.  
Greg turned his attention back to the strange child in confusion. “Huh?” he asked.  
“Give it to me,” the creature demanded, extending his hand outward.  
“What? No!” Greg snapped, “You can’t have my guitar. I nee-” Before he could continue, however, the green child suddenly lunged forward, tearing the strap with his claws and grabbing the instrument. He then proceeded to run away with it, dragging the instrument behind him. “Hey!” Greg called as he began to chase after the child, “Give that back! Or at least stop dragging it! You’ll get sand in the circuitry!” He ran after the surprisingly speedy dwarf until he saw it disappear inside a cavern in the side of a cliff. Above it stood a statue of a giant woman. He followed the child up the stairs leading into the cavern.  
Once he got close, he could hear voices coming from the inside. “Piccolo what are you doing with that?” a gruff voice spoke, “You know you’re not supposed to be collecting human junk. You’re already in big enough trouble with the local fishermen for dismantling their boats. Now hand it over.”  
“No! It’s mine!” the child’s voice rang out. Greg peaked out from around the corner to see what appeared to be a teenage boy with spiky black hair trying to pry the electric guitar from the hands of the green child, who was apparently called Piccolo.  
The teenager managed to succeed and examined the musical instrument. “What even is this? Where do you get this from?” he asked.  
“Doesn't matter, It’s mine now. Give it back!” the green child snapped. The child then grabbed something that flowed down from the teenager’s back and bit it. Hard. The teenage tensed up and dropped the guitar.  
“OUCH!” the teen yelled, before turning to the child. “Why you little brat!” he growled starting to chase the kid, the thing the child bit now lashing back and forth. It was at that moment that Greg realised the teenager had a tail.  
Greg gasped before quickly covering his mouth. However, it was already too late. The teenage and the green child both stopped and turned to look at him. “Oh…” the teen said with narrowed eyes, “So that’s where you got it.”  
Greg gulped as the teenager approached him. Even though, he was only a little taller than greg himself, the boy was still very intimidating.  
“I don’t know who you are or what you’re doing here, but you need to leave. Now,” the teen said, folding his arms and glaring at the slightly shorter man, “Humans aren’t allowed on this part of the beach.”  
“Look I’m really sorry,” Greg said, backing up, “I just really want my guitar back. Also I’m looking for a tall woman with pink hair. I don’t suppose you’ve seen her by chance, have you?”  
The boy raised an eyebrow before narrowing his eyes in suspicion. He grabbed the front of Greg’s shirt and hoisted him up. “How do you know Rose? Why are you asking for her?” he questioned, “Talk.”  
Beads of sweat trickled down Greg’s face. “I-I just wanted to...,” he started.  
“Just wanted to what?” the boy growled, “Explain yourself or I’ll throw you back over the fence now.” Greg gulped loudly. He was to scared to say a word. Suddenly, a third boy entered the scene.  
He flew into the cavern on a yellow cloud. His hair was wild and he had a tail like the teenager currently threatening him, but he was much shorter. He had a sack tucked under his arm. “Guys I’m back! And you’ll never believe what I found!” he called cheerfully but his smile quickly faded as he saw the scene before him. “Vegeta? What are you doing?” he scolded, “You promised not to hurt anyone anymore!”  
“I wasn’t going to hurt him...much. This human trespassed onto our property and was looking for Rose,” Vegeta stated, dropping Greg, “I was trying to figure out why he’s here.”  
The boy hopped of the cloud. “It didn't look like you were asking him a question,” the boy said, walking up to them. He then cocked his head to the side as he turned his attention towards Greg. “I haven’t seen a human that looked like you before. Especially your hair. I don’t think I’ve met any human with hair that long,” he noted, “ My name's Goku. Are you new around here?”  
“Nice to meet you. Yeah, I’m sort of just passing through here,” he responded, feeling a bit more comfortable talking to the younger boy. “Your friend Rose was at my concert, and she forgot her free t-shirt,” he explained, holding up the garment, “I tried to ask the little green guy over there for directions, but he stole my guitar and bolted.” The two tail baring boys looked over their shoulders to see that said green alien had reclaimed the musical instrument.  
“Well if that’s all you wanted, I don’t see what's wrong with that,” Goku started, turning back to him, “I’ll go get her for you!”  
The boy then hopped away to the door in the back of the cavern. Vegeta said nothing but simply crossed his arms as he watched Goku. Greg noticed that the door had a gemstone embedded into a star on it, and had several other spaces where stones could be, but they were empty. There was also a circle lower on the door. The boy placed his hand on the circle and the door opened. About a minute later, he returned holding Rose’s hand and leading her outside. “See, I told you there was a human here for you!” he chattered as he pointed to Greg.  
“Mr. Universe?” Rose asked in surprise.  
“Hi…” Greg waved sheepishly as he got up and dusted himself off, "Nice to see you again. You ah...Forgot your free shirt."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's funny to think, but Piccolo, or the one we know, is technically only four years older than Gohan in Dragonball canon. Unless he spent a few years ing the hyperbolic time chamber. So here you go. Little trouble maker Piccolo.


	9. Gem Mirror

“Did you find it yet?” Steven called from the mountain of boxes.   
“No,” Vegeta called as he tore open another, “Remind me again how I got sucked into this?” They were currently sorting through the boxes in the attic looking for the turtle shell Goku used to train with Master Roshi. Gohan was turning five and for his birthday he had asked to start training with his father and Steven. Goku didn’t want him to hurt himself(and Chichi didn’t want the boy to do any actual fighting), so he thought he’d have him start with some running and endurance training first. He’d have to work up to the turtle shell but it would be nice to have it ready.  
“Well you were the last one to supervise Steven when he was training with it,” Goku argued. Steven rubbed his shoulder slightly as he remembered all the times the three aliens had him deliver newspapers or help barb with the mail in the morning with that shell on his back. That was always his least favorite training exercise, but at least afterwards they always got him donuts from The Big Donut.  
“How do you even remember something like that?” Vegeta questioned as he looked up from a cardboard box.  
Goku paused in his search and tapped his chin in thought. “Dunno,” he said with a shrug.  
Vegeta sighed and rubbed his temples. “You remember something as stupid as that but you continuously forget your own wedding anniversary,” he said in disbelief, “How your wife puts up with crap like that is beyond me.”  
“I’m not good with dates ok?” Goku defended, “I can remember events fine but I get dates and times confused easily.”  
Steven tuned the pair of arguing Saiyans out as he continued to sift through the contents of different boxes. There were many odd objects, from daggers to broken pieces of machinery. All of them seemed decades old.   
“Maybe it was left in the temple…” Goku thought out loud, scratching the back of his head, “I’m gonna go check. You guys keep looking.” He then walked over to the window, pulled back the curtains, and opened it, floating down to the ground below.   
Bright light filtered into the room and Vegeta growled in annoyance as it shown onto his eyes. “You could have just used the stairs to get down!” he shouted angrily. He then turned back to his own boxes.  
As the light filtered into the room it reflected off of an object and caught Steven’s eye. He walked over to an ancient wooden chest. Inside he found an antique mirror. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands. He felt some kind of energy emanating from it. On the back of the mirror was a deep blue gem. He stuck his hand out to touch it and it glowed slightly. “Cool…” Steven whispered. “Hey Vegeta?” Steven called, “I found this cool old mirror. Can I have it?”  
“Huh?” the Saiyan said, not really paying attention as he pulled a box out from under an 18th century writing desk, “Sure. fine. Whatever.”  
“Woohoo!” Steven cheered before running down the stairs. “Thanks Vegeta!” he called.  
“Whatever kid,” Vegeta said waving him off. A few minutes of silence passed before he realised what had just transpired. “Wait a minute…Damn it! Steven get back here! Don’t leave me to do all the work!” he shouted as he chased the boy down the steps.


	10. The Rest of Mirror Gem

“Gohan! Gohan!” Steven called as he raced up the hill to his honorary cousin's house. The little boy was outside kicking a bright red ball around when Steven came running up to him.   
“Steven!” Gohan cheered as he saw the half gem approach. He picked up the ball he had been kicking around and held it up. “Mama got me this new ball,” he explained holding it up, “Wanna play with me?”  
“I actually came to show you something I found today,” Steven explained before presenting the mirror before him, “It’s a magic mirror! It can repeat things that you say and respond to you!”  
“Really?” the little half Saiyan asked, looking at the mirror. He cocked his head to the side as he peered into it.  
Suddenly an image of Steven appeared and shouted, “Gohan!” The boy jumped back and yelped, tail shooting straight up in alarm.  
“No no! It’s ok! It didn’t mean to scare you,” Steven explained, “It was just trying to say hello! Right, Mirror?”  
The mirror flipped to an image of Steven saying “Right” before flipping to an image of Lars hissing Steven’s name.  
Gohan tentatively stepped forward again. “Are you sure it's ok? Dad said to be careful with magical objects,” he asked.  
“Yeah it’s totally cool. Vegeta even let me have it!” Steven assured. Gohan’s eyebrows rocketed to his hairline. Vegeta usually didn’t mess around with stuff like this. If he thought it was a threat he would have destroyed it. If he really let Steven have it, then it couldn't be that bad.   
“If you say so…” Gohan said, “I guess it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Mirror.”  
The mirror repeated Gohan saying “It’s nice to meet you” then flipped to an image of the number two, then back to the clip of Steven shouting “Gohan!”   
“That’s not all it can do,” Steven said, “Go ahead and show him Mirror!” He held out the Mirror in front of Gohan. For a few moments nothing happened. The almost five year old leaned in expectantly. Then the mirror suddenly switched to an image of Steven blowing a raspberry. Gohan snickered at the rude noise.  
“Come on! We can go have some fun down by the beach and show the mirror around town,” Steven said, heading back down the hill. Gohan followed after him.  
Later that evening...  
Steven And Gohan ran to the door of the house. They couldn’t wait to share their discovery with the three warriors. They had fun all day, and the mirror had shown them all sorts of tricks, like projecting images outwards and playing back clips at different frequencies to sound like music. Steven was sure they would just love to see it, Goku especially. The mirror itself seemed reluctant, however.  
“Hey guys!” Steven called as they ran through the door. The three aliens looked up from what they were doing. Vegeta was lounging on the couch, Piccolo was meditating, and Goku was sitting on the counter eating a bag of Chaaaaps.  
“Ah there you are Steven!” Goku greeted, “You’ve been gone all afternoon without a trace. I see you and Gohan have been hanging out.”  
“Yeah! Were you able to find the turtle shell?” Steven asked.  
“Afraid not. Honestly, I have no idea where it could have gone to,” Goku said hopping off the counter.  
“I bet it’s back on the pervert’s island,” Piccolo muttered, opening one eye.  
“Anyways, how was your day guys?” Goku asked, “Did you have fun?”  
“Yeah! We’ve been playing with this magic mirror Steven found!” Gohan excitedly proclaimed. Goku’s smile suddenly fell and all eyes turned to the two boys.  
“Magic...mirror?” Goku repeated.  
“Yeah, it can talk and repeat stuff it's seen!” Steven exclaimed presenting it. The mirror didn’t do anything. “Come on, you can do it! Please? For me?” Steven urged. Finally it activated, flipping to an image of Steven blowing a raspberry. “You couldn’t resist, could you?” Steven said with a chuckle.  
The z fighters were not so amused, not even Goku. They all wore wary expressions. “Steven, you need to get rid of that thing,” Piccolo said seriously as he got up, “Where did you even get that?”  
Looks of confusion crossed Steven and Gohan’s faces. “But why? I found it while looking for the turtle shell. Vegeta said I could have it!” he said.  
Piccolo and Goku turned to Vegeta in confusion. “I-I wasn’t paying attention, ok! I thought it was a regular old mirror!” he defended. He then pushed passed the two. “Fine. If I apparently started this thing, then I’m going to end it too,” he growled, marching towards the two children, “Hand it over kids.”  
The mirror screamed “No!” and the two boys moved in front of it protectively. “What are you going to do with it?” Gohan asked.  
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. Right now you two need to be as far away from it as possible,” Vegeta said.  
“Vegeta, Please no! It doesn’t want to go away! Can’t you hear it?” Steven said. The mirror continued to scream.  
“Steven, Gohan, just give it to him. You don’t know what could be controlling that mirror! It could be an evil spirit!” Goku explained.  
“But Mr. Mirror’s our friend!” Gohan pleaded.  
“It’s a mirror! It can’t be your friend. Now give it to me or you two are going to be in big trouble!” Vegeta argued, reaching for it.  
“No!” Steven shouted, “It wants to be with US!” With that he suddenly thrust his fist out, punching Vegeta in the gut and knocking the wind out of him.   
Vegeta’s eyes grew wide in shock, as well as Goku’s and Piccolo’s. Steven and Gohan stood still in fear. “I-I I’M SORRY!” Steven shouted. He then grabbed Gohan by the wrist and ran out the door.  
The three aliens stood there in shock, letting everything that just happened sink in. Vegeta clutched his stomach as he regained his breath. “That little brat!” he hissed.  
It was then that Piccolo and Goku fully realised what Steven had done...and their shock quickly turned to horror and they both rushed to calm down the short tempered Saiyan. “Vegeta...You need to calm down…” Piccolo said carefully.  
“Vegeta, I know what you’re thinking,” Goku said in a panicked tone, “‘Should I kill him?’”  
“He punched me in the gut!” he growled.  
“And the answer may surprise you!” Goku said, voice getting higher as he jumped between the door and the prince.  
Vegeta took a deep breath before standing up. “You know...I think I’m actually kind of proud of him…” Vegeta said slowly. Piccolo and Goku looked at each other in confusion but relaxed slight.  
“R-really?” Goku asked.  
“Yeah…” Vegeta started, “...Too bad it’s being overshadowed by all this UNYIELDING RAGE!” With that he suddenly bowled down Goku as he tore after the two boys. “GET BACK HERE YOU BRATS!!!” he shouted, “I’M GONNA SHATTER THAT MIRROR!”   
No sooner than as Goku got up, the two remaining aliens were chasing after the prince of Saiyans. “Just don’t hurt the kids!” Piccolo hollard after him.  
…..  
“I’M GONNA SHATTER THAT MIRROR!”  
Steven jumped as he heard Vegeta’s raging. He desperately tried to pull the gem out of the back of the mirror, but it wouldn’t budge. “I can’t get it out!” he cried.  
“Here, let me try!” Gohan said, grabbing the mirror. He tugged as hard as he could on the stone. It popped out and the mirror shattered. The cracked gem floated out of his hand and to the tide. A glowing figure formed around it, then solidified and fell to the ground. The figure was blue and had a flowing sundress. The blue gem sat in the center of her back.  
“She’s...not a monster like the others! She’s like my mom…” Steven whispered.  
“That’s what a gem looks like?” Gohan muttered, “Now I feel bad for calling her Mr. Mirror…”  
She suddenly turned to them, her eyes pupilless. “Steven! Gohan!” she said, struggling to stand, “Thank you…I can’t tell you how long I was in there. It’s been so long since I’ve seen another gem. And I’ve never seen anything like you before Gohan.”  
“I’m a Saiyan, or actually half Saiyan…” Gohan explained.  
“I’ve never met another gem at all actually….” Steven said, “Who are you?”  
“I’m-”  
“STEVEN! GOHAN!”   
They turned to see the Z Fighters rounding the corner. Surprise came to their eyes as they saw the blue gem. “It’s a gem! And it’s not corrupt!” Piccolo announced.  
“You!” the blue gem spat in rage. She raised her and three pillars of water shot at the Z fighters and pinned them to cliff face. “You left me in a box for years!” she accused, “And the moment you thought I might be alive, you tried to kill me!”  
“We didn't know whether you were evil or not!” Goku defended.  
“And nine times out of ten the inanimate object that can talk is usually evil,” Piccolo pointed out.  
“To be honest, I would have expected you to do the same in my position,” Vegeta stated bluntly. The gem growled and closed her hand. The pillars pressed harder on them, the water spreading over their entire bodies and they began to struggle as they couldn’t breath.  
“NO!” Steven shouted, “Don’t hurt them!”  
“Daddy! Mr. Piccolo!” Gohan cried in fear, “LEAVE THEM ALONE!” He suddenly tackled the blue gem. She lost focus and dropped the warriors. When they fell to the ground they started coughing up water. She looked at the young boy in betrayal before shoving him off of herself. She then parted the ocean and extended a hand out to Steven. “Come with me Steven,” she asked.  
“Where?” he asked with uncertainty.  
“Home,” she said.  
“But...My home is here!” he said.  
She looked confused for a second before frowning. “Fine then,” she said. She turned to the Z Fighters who were picking themselves up. “I am Lapis Lazuli!” she announced proudly, “and I am your prisoner no more!” With that, she disappeared into the sea.   
Everything was quiet for a few moments. Gohan ran to check on his father and Piccolo. Vegeta stumbled over to Steven, still half drowned. “Steven…” he said between coughs, “You are in so much trouble!” Before steven could protest, the tide pulled away from the shore as the ocean receded until there was nothing left. The prince and the half gem gaped at where the ocean once was. “...After we figure out how to fix this mess…” he growled.  
“Daddy!” Gohan cheered and jumped into his father’s arms as the Saiyan got up, “I’m so glad you and Mr. Piccolo are alright!”   
“Of course! It’ll take more than a little sea water to do us in!” the Saiyan assured.  
“Dad? Am I grounded too?” the child asked nervously, twiddling his thumbs and looking away.  
Goku’s smile fell. “I’m afraid so. You did help release something that just stole the ocean after all. but if it makes you feel any better,” he said as he looked out into the dry seabed, “After your mother finds out about this...I’m probably going to be grounded too…” Something on the ocean floor then caught the Saiyan’s eye and he squinted at it. “Wait a minute…” he said, “...Is that the training shell?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't noticed by now, I am a huge fan of TFS. You're going to see a lot of their humor slipping through on this, intentionally or otherwise. Thanks for reading!


	11. Test Failed

Steven was fuming. He couldn’t believe his guardians had so little faith in him! After he found out he had failed the test at sea spire, he had begged them for a new one. They had agreed, but what they didn’t tell him was that it was rigged so he couldn’t fail! All of the “obstacles” were either holograms or illusions. Even the fire blasts from the room Goku designed were just light projections and colored smoke! Steven had climbed through one of the portholes in the ceiling and found himself on top of the test rooms. Just as he predicted, there were hologram projectors setup on top.   
As he walked to the end of the test chambers, he saw his three guardians waiting for him just after the exit to the room Vegeta had designed. Said prince was pacing in anticipation. There was a sign behind them that read “Congratulations”. They already knew he would succeed, seeing as there was no way for him not to. Steven frowned. Part of him wanted to jump down there and tell them off for having so little faith in him. He was about to when Vegeta spoke up.  
“What’s taking him so long?” the prince complained, “He should have finished it long before now!”  
“Maybe he got stuck,” Goku suggested from his position of sitting on the floor.  
Vegeta rolled his eyes at him. “And how would he have been able to do that? You simplified this stupid test so much that even his father could do it!” he snapped, “Seriously, I can’t believe you two think this would be good enough to constitute as a test for him. He’s taken on challenges way more difficult than this and completed them in stride!”  
Steven felt touched at the prince’s words. “You know the point of this test was never to challenge him,” the Namekian said, “Steven needs a confidence boost.”  
“No he doesn’t,” the prince says, “He needs to learn from his failures and get over them. He’ll never get stronger if he gives up every time he fails.”  
“While I don’t disagree with you, he’s not a Saiyan like you and Goku, Vegeta. He doesn’t have the single minded drive to rise to any challenge even if there are impossible odds,” Piccolo argued as he folded his arms, “And considering what happened last time he had a huge drop in self esteem, yeah, I think the kid needs a goddamn confidence booster every once in awhile!”  
“It’s not my fault his dad’s selfish actions screwed up his healing powers!” Vegeta snapped, “And shut up about knowing about what he does and does not need! Last time I checked the kid isn’t Namekian either! You’re not any wiser about how to take care of him than Kakarot or I!”  
“Yes, but it was part your fault when he nearly aged himself to death!” Piccolo shouted, “For whatever reason, Steven’s powers are linked to his emotional state. I’m not making a guess about this, it’s been an observable trend! I may be just as in the dark about what to do with him as you, but at least I’m trying to figure it out. Meanwhile, you just keep brushing things off in hopes they’ll resolve themselves!” Piccolo was huffing after that.  
Vegeta opened his mouth to retort when Goku spoke up. “We’re really bad at this…” he said, his usual happy demeanor replaced with a more resigned tone. The room went silent for a second.  
“What the hell are you talking about, Kakarot?” Vegeta snapped.  
“Looking after Steven,” he said, “We really have no idea what we’re doing. I barely have a clue of what to do as is with Gohan, and he’s at least half the same species as me!”  
“I hate to say it but I completely agree,” Piccolo started, “Look at us: We’re a trio made up of the son of a genocidal tyrant, a prince who grew up under the rule of a sociopath, and a guy who could barely tell the difference between a male and a female for a good portion of his life. We don’t know a damn thing about either species he comes from, and we probably can’t count on our hands anymore all the times we’ve accidentally put his life on the line. If it weren’t for Greg and Chichi, the kid would have been dead before he made it out of diapers.”  
Vegeta’s mouth hung open slightly as he tried to think of something to say but closed it. He crossed his arms and turned away from the Namekian. He did nothing but scowl at the ground, completely silent for once.  
At that, Steven had heard enough. He walked back and found another porthole. When he came out on the other side, he acted like nothing had gone wrong. He let them congratulate him and treat it like it was a grand accomplishment. He pretended to gush about all the crazy obstacles and tell them how cool their test rooms were, so much so that he had to run through them several times. To be honest they probably needed the confidence boost more than him.


	12. Meet Gohan

Connie walked up to the door of Steven’s house. It had only been a few weeks since she first met the boy. He was definitely a strange kid, but his guardians were much stranger. Two of them were somewhat normal, but had tails like monkeys. The other was a tall, green man with antenna. She hadn’t seen anyone like them before!   
Still, they only made this boy all the more interesting. He was like a kid from a fantasy story! Everytime she had met with him, something new and strange...and even life threatening occurred. Despite the danger, she still enjoyed it. It was like an adventure! And she couldn’t wait for the next one.   
She knocked on the door and Goku answered. “Hey Connie!” he answered.  
“Hi, Mr. Goku,” she greeted, “Steven invited me over. Is he home?”  
Goku held the door open for her. “Yeah he’s here. He’s taking a nap though,” Goku explained, “Vegeta had him on a really early training session this morning. Give him about fifteen more minutes, alright?”   
“Ok, Sure!” she said walking in. She saw a lump wrapped in a blanket on the couch. It slowly rose and fell. Connie gave him a pitying look. he must have been so tired that he just fell asleep on the couch!  
“You kids have fun,” Goku said as he grabbed a wallet from the kitchen counter, “I have to quick grab something for lunch. I’ll be back in a little bit!” With that he stepped out the door.  
Connie nodded and sat down in the arm chair the couch. Looking at him, she was surprised how little space Steven took up. She swore he would at least take up half the couch, but he only took up a little over a third. Next to the couch she saw a red hat on the ground. She picked it up and examined it. It had some sort of orange jewel on top: a sphere with four red stars inside. It seemed a bit small for steven but not too small. He must have had it for a while, as the red velvet was a little frayed at the ends. Part of it even looked slightly singed! How did that happen? She pondered this for a second before shrugging and setting the hat down. Then she pulled out her favorite book “Unfamiliar Familiar” and began reading. A few minutes later, the form on the couch began to stir. Connie glanced up from her book and smiled.   
“Hey Steven!” she greeted, “Glad to see you’re up!”   
“Huh?” a high pitched voice came from the blanket. Connie raised an eyebrow in confusion. That was most definitely not Steven’s voice. The blanket fell as the figure rose from its slumber. Connie’s eyes widened as she saw a pale little boy with spiky black hair appear from under the sheet. He rubbed his onyx eyes sleepily and yawned. He blinked at her a few times before a look of equal surprise came to his face.  
“You’re not…” she started, standing up and backing away.  
“Wh-what?” the little boy said in confusion.  
“But if you’re not Steven then where…?” she said trying to understand.  
“Wh-who are you? What are you doing here?” he questioned.  
“I could ask you the same thing,” Connie said.  
“Where’s my daddy?” the child asked, starting to become upset.  
“Huh?” Connie uttered with a raised eyebrow.  
The boy jumped down from the couch and tried to look intimidating. “Where is he? What did you do with him?” he demanded.  
“I didn’t do anything!” Connie said holding her hands up defensively, “I’m just here to see--”  
A loud yawn came from upstairs and both turned to see Steven walking down from the loft. “Hey is something wrong?” he said sleepily, “I heard shouting.”  
“Steven, thank goodness!” Connie greeted as she ran over to him, “I was worried for a bit you weren’t here at all.”  
He blinked as he looked up at them. “Oh hey Connie! When did you get here?” he asked.  
“Just a few minutes ago,” she explained, “But I found this strange kid sleeping in your house! I think he snuck in somehow. The kid’s crazy, he thinks I did something to his dad.”  
Steven raised an eyebrow and looked over to said child, who was looking at Connie nervously. “Oh that’s just Gohan. Don’t worry, he’s supposed to be here,” Steven explained.  
“Really?” she said, “Then why haven’t I seen him around before? Who is he?” She knew it was impossible for steven to have biological siblings. Was he adopted? A step sibling? He looked a little young to just be a close friend. Then again, Steven was friends with kids much younger than him.  
“He’s my cousin...well sort of. We’re not related, but we’re family,” Steven explained, “He doesn't live here all the time, but his dad brings him over a lot to look after him while he looks after me. He’s Goku’s son.”   
“What?!” she exclaimed, “How?! I thought you said there weren’t any female Saiyans.”  
“There aren’t,” Steven stated like it was obvious.  
“Then how does he exist?” Connie asked, a little quieter as to be polite.  
“Well he’s half human like me,” Steven explained, “Goku married a human woman named Chichi when I was young and they had him.”  
“Wait, Goku’s married?!” Connie exclaimed. While that may have seemed obvious in hindsight, it somehow surprised her more than him having a son.  
“Yeah,” Steven said. He then turned to the half-Saiyan. Said child was still looking at Connie suspiciously. “Hey Gohan. It’s ok. Connie’s really nice,” he said.   
The little boy cautiously walked over to them, examining Connie as he did so. Once he finally made it over to the pair, Connie stuck out her hand. “Sorry about earlier,” she said, “I didn't mean to startle you and get off onto the wrong foot like that. Let’s start over: I’m Connie. It’s nice to meet you.”  
Gohan looked at the hand for a second before smiling and taking it. “It’s nice to meet you too,” he replied.


	13. The History of Vegeta part 1

Vegeta rubbed his temple in boredom as he continued to speed through the endless void of space. This mission had gone on for three long days, and they hadn’t even made it to the planet yet! “How far out is this damn thing?” the thirteen year old called over the intercom to his fellow Sayians.   
“We’re at least three or four more solar systems away now,” Nappa responded, “It should only take us a few more days at most.” They were the last few of their kind left, and they were currently on a mission out somewhere in the milky way galaxy. Some planet the gems wanted cleared for harvesting. The Saiyan prince growled. This was taking too long. He hated being kooped up like this. It was like torture. He could barely even stretch his legs. And the worst part was he knew this pod could go faster, but Nappa had warned him against using the higher thruster settings at this time.  
“I know, I hate these pods too,” Vegeta could hear Raditz voice over the intercom, “But if you think you have it bad, imagine being six feet tall and being stuffed into one of these!”  
Vegeta rolled his eyes. “I’ll complain if I want to,” the teenager snapped, “I am your prince after all.”  
“Yeah, yeah. I know,” the long haired Saiyan responded.  
A few more minutes passed in silence. Vegeta gritted his teeth as they ticked by. Time seemed to pass at a snail’s pace and he was at his wits’ end. “That’s it!” Vegeta finally snapped, “I’m switching over to hyper drive!”  
“Vegeta, Don’t,” Nappa warned, “There’s an asteroid belt in this area. If you try to go into hyperdrive while in passing through it, you could be ripped to pieces!”  
“You said that three hours ago, and we haven’t seen a single rock out here!” Vegeta argued, “For all you know, we could have passed over it by now!” With that, Vegeta pulled a lever in his space pod. The pod let out a sudden burst of energy as it began to speed ahead of the other two. Vegeta leaned back in his pod, a proud smirk on his face. This should cut down travel time by at least a full day!  
The smirk disappeared, however, when the teen heard a loud THUNK! He perked up in his seat as he heard another and another. Surrounding him were hundreds of asteroids of various shapes and sizes. When the pod slammed against a particularly large one, Vegeta grabbed the controls. He tried to dodge the space debris as best he could.   
“Vegeta? What’s-” Nappa’s voice cut came from the intercom, but it dissolved into static as another asteroid hit him. Vegeta growled in annoyance as he continued to try and maneuver through the belt. He tried to reach for the lever to turn off hyper drive. As he was about to reach it, he hit another asteroid from below. This caused him to shoot up in his seat and hit his head against some of the equipment and pass out. The impact of the asteroid also caused the pod to be sent wildly off course.  
“Vegeta! Vegeta, come it!” Nappa called for the prince over the intercom. He slammed his hand on the controls when there was no response.  
“Nappa, the tracking signal on Vegeta’s pod went dead! What happened?” Raditz asked.  
“He went against my orders and went into hyperdrive!” Nappa explained, anger and worry clear in his voice, “I warned him not to, but he didn't listen! Now he’s flown straight into an asteroid belt and I can’t get ahold of him!”  
“What?! There’s no way he could maneuver through something like that in hyperdrive!” Raditz exclaimed, “What was that idiot thinking? He’ll get ripped apart!”  
“I’m afraid he already has…” Nappa said sadly.  
…..  
The pod hurdled through space, getting closer and closer to the blue planet. As it did, a certain Namekian and genie took notice of it. “Oh no…” Kami hissed as he gazed up, “Not again...Thank goodness it only seems like there’s one of them this time. I must still warn Rose though.” With that he sent out a telepathic message to the pink gem.  
….  
Rose walked through the grassy field, pushing a large cart as she went along. She picked some of the huge strawberries and examined them before placing them in the cart. It was almost lunchtime and her young Saiyan ward had worked very hard this morning in training, so she decided he should get to have a special treat. He had managed to master the new set of martial arts moves she had taught him, and had made great progress in controlling his energy exertion. She decided instead of his usual lunch of fish, gulls, and vegetables from her fountain garden, he should get something a little sweeter instead. Maybe if there was any left over, she could turn the strawberries into jam or put them on some ice cream for him.  
“Rose!” the little boy called. She turned her head to see something rustling through the bushes towards her. When Goku appeared, he was covered in grass stains and strawberry juice. On his back was a basket full of strawberries. He was also pulling something along in his hand, but she couldn’t quite tell what it was. “I’m finished picking strawberries!” he said excitedly, “Can we go back and eat them now?”  
She giggled as she knelt down to wipe some of the juice off his face. “It looks like you already had a few!” she noted. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly and smiled.  
“I’m sorry, Rose. I was hungry and they just smelled so good!” he explained with a light chuckle.  
“Well I hope they tasted good too,” she said with a grin, “We’ll have to wash your cloths too. It looks like you fell on some as well!” His orange gi with a light pink star on the right breast was covered in splotches of the red juice. “Come on then,” she said to the eight year old, “Let’s get you home, huh?”  
He nodded. He took a step forward before remembering something. “Oh I have something I want to show you!” he said. He dragged the item he found out into the open. A it was a large red halberd. “I found this really cool weapon in the field. “It’s like an ax, a spear, and a bow staff all in one! Isn’t it awesome? Can I keep it?” he looked at her expectantly.  
Rose debated it as he gave her a pleading look. “Well…” she started. However, she cut herself off as a voice came to her mind.  
“Rose,” Kami’s voice resounded in her mind, “I’m afraid I have grave news. A Saiyan pod has entered Earth’s atmosphere. It will be landing in Russia near warp pad 215 soon.”   
A look of fear flashed over her visage before deep frown formed over it. “Thank you Kami,” she responded telepathically, “I’ll see to it immediately.”  
“Rose?” Goku called, grabbing her attention again. Concern was written on his face. “Are you ok? You look upset,” he asked.  
Rose knelt down to his level again. “Goku, I’m afraid there’s something I need to take care of. You need to go home and wait there,” she explained.   
“What?” he said cocking his head to the side, “But I want to help you! You have to fight a monster right? I wanna help fight it!”  
“No Goku!” she said sternly, “I want you to stay at the temple and wait there. You can have all the strawberries that you want, but you just have stay there, alright?”  
“Ok…” he said slowly, “You’ll come back to have some with me, right?”  
Rose paused before answering. To be honest, she has no idea if she would be coming back at all...but she couldn’t tell him that. “Sure,” she finally said, forcing a smile. She then picked him up and set him on her shoulders as she headed back to the warp pad. When they returned to the temple. She set him and the cart of giant strawberries at the door of the temple. “Now I want you to stay here and be good, alright? You can go into town but not to the restaurants,” she said. He nodded and she gave him a kiss on his forehead.  
She then turned and stepped back up onto the warp pad. “Goodbye, Goku. I’ll be back before you know it,” she assured. With that she closed her eyes and let a bright light engulf her.   
….  
Rose followed the line of the destruction to the crash site. Trees were snapped in half where the pod pummeled through them. Some were even slightly charred. She finally came upon the large crater in a center of a newly made clearing. She peered down the side and saw the capsule was already open. Her eyes grew wide and she looked around wildly, hoping to spot the invader before they spotted her.  
She suddenly heard the snap of a twig, causing her to jump. She summoned her shield and turned around quickly. Her eyes grew wide with surprise. “Goku?!” she said with a hint of anger. The little boy froze as she spotted him and laughed nervously. “What are you doing here? I told you to stay at the temple!” she demanded.  
“I followed you ‘cause I was worried!” he explained looking down in guilt, “I know you told me you were coming back, but you sounded like you were lying… so I snuck into the warp stream when you weren’t looking. I’m sorry.”  
Rose sighed. She couldn’t stay mad at him long. “I understand your concern, but this is too dangerous for you. You need to go back home now,” she explained.   
“But I want to help!” he stated firmly, guilt being replaced with determination, “You’ve said yourself that I’ve gotten really strong. Surely there’s something I can do!”   
“Goku…” Rose started but was cut off by a soft groan coming from the crater.  
They both turned to it it in surprise. “Somebody’s hurt down there!” Goku exclaimed, “We have to help them!” He suddenly sprinted past the gem to the edge of the crater.   
“Goku, stop!” she warned as she hurried after him. It was too late however. He had already slid down the edge of the crater. Rose slid down after him. when she got to the base of the crater, she found him peering inside the beat up space pod. Uh oh… Rose thought.  
“Rose!” Goku called excitedly, “Look! Look! There’s a person in this egg thing!” As she approached, he pointed to the person inside, who was thankfully unconscious. The Saiyan had spiky black hair and looked to be only a few years older than Goku and only a little taller. She couldn’t help but feel concerned for the injured child, but the armor he wore reminded her to keep her distance. “This guy has a tail like me, Rose!” he said jumping up and down in joy. Rose did not share his enthusiasm. She simply nodded her head as he mouth formed a thin line. There were multiple reasons as to why she hadn’t wanted Goku to come with her on this mission. One of them being that she had hoped to explained to Goku his heritage when the time was right. It appears she was going to have to explain things to him sooner than she thought.  
“Rose, he’s not waking up,” Goku noted when he had calmed down, “Maybe we could take him back and help him get better.”  
Rose was about to say no, when she looked at the teenage Saiyan again. He looked so peaceful in this state much like how Goku was when he slept. She couldn’t hurt him like this and she knew it. He was defenseless and he hadn’t hurt anyone yet. Maybe they could keep him in the temple...it’s not like he would be able to escape. And if they did help him, he might be more willing to leave the Earth be… “Alright, Goku,” she said, her usual gentle smile returning to her face, “Help me get him out of the pod.” The younger Saiyan nodded before grabbing one of teen’s legs and lifting it while Rose lifted the unconscious prince by his shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this ended up having more to do with Goku and Rose than Vegeta, so sorry about the misleading title. Still, I hope you guys enjoyed it! The next chapter won't be a continuation of this story but I will get back to it soon.


	14. Tinydot

“No! They’ll see you!” Steven cried as he chased after the small gem. The three warriors stopped into their conversation as they saw her. Peridot raced through the door and across the warp pad, stopping right in front of the door.  
“FREEDOM IS MINE!” she cried arms outstretched. Everything was silent for a moment. Peridot slowly turned to see the three aliens at the counter. They all froze, looking at her in surprise. Goku was in the middle of making a sandwich when she appeared. He was now holding the bun in mid air, just above the giant stack of lunch meat.  
Peridot sweated nervously, paralyzed in fear. Steven ran in front the small gem and held his arms outstretched. “Don’t hurt her!” he cried.  
“L-look! It’s the Frieza Force!” she cried desperately, pointing behind them. The three warriors suddenly moved from the counter, advancing on them. Peridot suddenly yelped and bolted, heading away from the door. However, no matter where she turned, they were always one step ahead of her. Finally, she darted into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.  
“Haha! You may have won the war but the battle isn’t over you clods!” she cried.  
“I don’t think that’s how the phrase goes…” Goku said scratching the back of his head.  
“Do you really think a wooden door is going to keep us out?” Vegeta said, “Kakarot over here could break a brick with a finger when he was twelve and I was burning down towns long before then.”  
Vegeta received no response. The only noise that came from the bathroom was the sound of the toilet flushing and water splashing on the ground. The three warriors blinked in surprise.   
“Did she just try to--” Vegeta started then growled, “Get out of there! If you ruin the toilet, I’ll ruin you!” Peridot yelped from within the room and some stumbling and splashing could be heard.  
“Why did she even think she could fit down the drain?” Goku asked, scratching his head.  
“What I want to know is how she got out in the first place,” Piccolo announced, “We put her in a ring box like the rest.”  
“Maybe we didn’t lock the box,” Goku suggested with a shrug.  
“Whether we locked it or not, I don’t think that’s how she got out…” Vegeta said, turning to glare at Steven.  
Steven swallowed as his two other guardians turned to look at him expectantly. “Well?” Piccolo asked, folding his arms.  
“Ok, I admit it!” Steven cried, squeezing his eyes shut, “I intentionally let Peridot out!” “But I didn’t do it without reason,” he defended, “Before you guys showed up to save me, Peridot mentioned something about a cluster and how the Earth was in trouble. She was really scared of it so I wanted to find out what it was.”  
“If she’s scared of it, then whatever it is can’t be good,” Piccolo noted, “And if it’s anything like those fusion experiments, then we definitely have a problem.”  
“I guess we have no choice but to negotiate with her then,” Vegeta sighed. He walked back over to the bathroom door. “Listen up, Pipsqueak,” he announced, “We’re willing to call a temporary truce if you come out of there and give us information about whatever this ‘cluster’ is.”  
“AS IF I’D NEGOTIATE WITH YOU, FILTHY MONKEY!” she shouted.  
Goku brought a hand to his mouth and Piccolo looked surprised. Vegeta’s eye twitched slightly and he grimaced for a second before taking a sharp breath through his nose and exhaling. He then calmly stepped back, slowly raised his hand to the door, and let a purple ball of ki form in his palm.  
Steven’s eyes grew wide. “Wait! Vegeta do--” he started. Unfortunately, it was too late. He fired the blast, blowing a hole through the door and the side of the house. Steven shielded his eyes against the bright light. He could hear a screech from inside the room. Once it has dispersed, Steven opened his eyes and there was a gaping, smoldering hole in the bathroom door. Through it, Steven could see a very frightened Peridot, whimpering and shivering as she clung to the pole that once held the shower curtain for dear life.  
“O-ok! I’ll talk!” she squeaked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone requested a story about peridot and I couldn't resist. So enjoy Vegeta scaring the living daylights out of little peri!


	15. Marble Madness

The three warriors and Steven hid under the elevator panel as the robonoid activated the control panel and a screen fizzled to life. A familiar face appeared on the screen: Peridot.  
“Crap, not her again…” Piccolo growled.  
“What the hell is she doing here?” Vegeta hissed, “I thought you said she was just some maintenance drone!”  
“I ASSUMED she was,” Piccolo retorted quietly, “For all we know, she still could be one but her job wasn't just to fix the warp system.”  
The two Saiyans eyes widened. “Oh no! She’s trying to restart this place isn’t she?” Goku breathed, “Why are they coming back now? Rose said they haven’t bothered this planet since she chased them off!”  
“Maybe someone got the memo that Rose isn’t around anymore,” Vegeta growled, “I wouldn’t be surprised if that water witch told the whole gem empire about it when she got home…”  
“Whatever the case maybe,” Piccolo cut it, “We have to be careful. If she spots us and figures out what you two are, we could have the diamonds on our tail in seconds…or worse: the Colds.” “Steven, we need you to stay here. Vegeta and I will get a closer lo-” he started, turning to the boy, but his eyes widened when he realized Steven wasn't there. The three aliens looked around frantically before they heard a voice pipe up.  
“I dunno, I think it’s kinda cool,”   
They looked up to see the boy standing in front of the giant screen, the green gem looking at him with surprise and confusion. “Hi I’m Steven,” he said.  
The gem blinked before bringing up a recording device. “There appears to be an infestation of Stevens in this area,” she spoke into the recorder.  
“Daw, I'm not so bad once you get to know me!” Steven replied cheerfully.  
Vegeta’s palm met his forehead. “That’s it,” he growled, “I knew that kid was going to get us killed one day. When we get home, he is so dead.”  
“And how many more Stevens are present in this area?” the gem continued casually.  
“I dunno Vegeta, she doesn't seem that bad,” Goku said as he observed the two conversing.  
“Just wait for it…” he muttered, head still in his hand.  
“Now I get to ask a question,” Steven said, playfully pointing at her, “what are you doing?”  
Peridot turn away from him, but lifted one of the giant floating fists above him. “Hm, just picking up where we left off,” she continued cooly. Before the hand could come down, the Z fighters jumped into action, Vegeta and Goku wrapping their tails to conceal them. With one punch, Goku shattered the floating hand.   
“What the heck?!” the green gem sputtered in surprise, “Another Steven?! I thought you said you were the only one!” She then turned to Vegeta and Piccolo who were now tearing up the room. Peridot tried to swat them away with the remaining floating hand. “Hey! Stop that you...you other Steven, and….Namekian?!” she snapped in confusion, “Why are you here?! HOW are you here! What in the name of Yellow Diamond is going on!! Have you been the ones tampering with my machines?”  
“We’re giving you a warning,” Piccolo said turning to her, “Stay away from this planet, or face the consequences!” As her attention was directed on the green alien, Vegeta took the opportunity to smashed the power core.  
“I-I’m reporting this!” the gem’s voice cracked before the room went dark and the projection fizzled out. The last image they saw was the triangular gem’s livid expression. The three aliens stood around in an awkward silence, unsure of what to do next. Steven continued to stand frozen in his spot, equally unsure.  
“Steven,” Vegeta finally said, turning to the boy, “You’re grounded.”


	16. The Return

“Please don’t go you guys!” Steven begged as he tugged on Piccolo’s cape, “what if something bad happens while you’re gone?” It had been a full day since they received the warning message from Lapis Lazuli, and the three aliens had been completely on edge. They figured that the gem coming for them was that nuisance Peridot, but what chilled them to the bone was the second part of her warning: she wasn't coming to Earth alone. No matter how many times they replayed the message, they couldn't find any hint as to how many gems were with her. It could simply be a small crew sufficient enough to pilot a space cruiser, or it could be an entire army! It didn’t matter though. If Lapis, the gem that had the power to steal the entire ocean, was afraid of whoever was with Peridot, then they could very well be up a stream without a paddle.   
But there was one option left for them to better their possible outcome: a few days in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. The three of them could get a few year’s worth of training in. Of course, that also meant a few days without them around. Steven didn't like that idea much, and neither did Gohan, who was currently clinging to his father’s leg.  
“Please don’t go, Daddy!” the little half Saiyan cried, “What if some monsters attack the city? Who’s going to stop them?”  
“Calm down,” Goku soothed as he patted the boy’s head, “It’ll only be a day or two. We’ll be back before you know it!” “As for the monsters, that’s why I invited Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien over. They’ll look after things while we’re away,” Goku explained, “You remember them, don’t you? I know you do, Steven.”  
Steven nodded, but didn’t look any happier. He liked the three warriors. They always showed up to his birthday parties along with Bulma and a few other of Goku’s friends. Yamcha had taught him how to play baseball when he was little and Steven had always enjoyed seeing Tien and Krillin demonstrate whatever new techniques they had learned between their visits. Tein was also was amazing at volleyball and it was always fun to play against him whenever he stopped by and Krillin told some of the best jokes Steven had ever heard! As much as he loved seeing his mentor’s friends, Steven couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding despite Goku’s assurance.  
“But what if the gems show up when you’re gone?” Steven asked.  
“That may very well be a possibility, but from what we can tell, it’s highly unlikely,” Piccolo explained, “We just received that message from Lapis and all the off planet warp pads are still down. Unless she sent the message after the gems left to attack us, they shouldn't be able to travel fast enough to get here before we’re done with our training.”  
“But…” Steven started.  
“Stop it,” Vegeta interrupted, “At this point, worrying is only going to give you a headache, boy. It doesn’t even matter if we stay or go train and have them arrive while we’re gone. If we stayed and waited until they arrived we’d be just as screwed. If we don’t at least try to prepare, then we’re as good as sitting ducks, and I for one am not going to roll over and let some stupid rocks destroy what I’ve put a lot of effort into protecting without a fight.”  
Steven sighed. “Alright…” he grumbled, letting go Piccolo’s cape.  
Gohan seemed to think for a second before speaking. “Promise you’ll come back?” he asked.  
Goku smiled as he looked down at the two boys. “We promise,” he said, putting a hand on their shoulders and drawing them in for a hug. After that he stood up and walked out onto the porch, looking up at the sky. Right on queue, the three human warriors streaked across the clouds as they came in for a landing.  
Krillin dusted his pants off after he touched down and waved at his Saiyan friend. “Hey Goku! Good to see you again. Sorry about the wait. It took a little while to pack, and you would not believe the turbulence!” he called.  
“That’s alright! I’m glad you guys could make it,” he said, floating down to meet them, “It’s good to see you all again.” The two other Z fighters followed after him, and the two half human children raced down the steps after them.  
“You too, Goku,” Tein responded with a slight grin.  
“It’s no big deal. I’m off season anyways,” Yamcha said with a smile, “Hey Piccolo! Vegeta! How’s it going?”   
“Aside from being threatened by space rocks, absolutely wonderful,” Vegeta commented, rolling his eyes. Piccolo scowled at Vegeta, but the prince ignored him.  
Yamcha shrunk a bit at the bite in the Saiyan’s voice. “Eh...sorry…” the scarred desert bandit muttered.  
“Anyways…” Piccolo announced turning his eyes to the three humans, “You’re free to do as you like while you stay here, but I ask that you leave the temple as you found it. We do appreciate you looking after the town for us while we’re away. I'm sure Steven and Gohan will enjoy your company.”  
The two boys stepped out from behind the three aliens. Krillin smiled. “Hey you two! long time, no see!” he said walking up to them, “I heard you started training Gohan. I can’t wait to see what you’ve learned so far. You too, Steven!” The boys smiled as the short warrior approached them. As they talked, Piccolo leaned in towards Tien. “Goku briefed you three on the evacuation plan, right?” the green alien asked quietly.  
Tien’s grin faded as he shared a serious look with the Namekian. “Yes. If the invaders get here early, there shouldn't be anyone within a mile of the city,” he confirmed, “Especially these two.” Piccolo nodded before turning to Goku and Vegeta and sharing a look with them.   
“Alright then,” Goku announced, turning to the children who had been happily chatting with Krillin and Yamcha, “We best be off. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can get back.”  
The two boys turn to the warriors to say their goodbyes. “Bye guys,” Steven said, giving them each a hug, although Vegeta didn't reciprocate it and simply nodded instead, “see you in a few days.”  
“See you later, Gohan!” Goku chirped as he ruffled the boy’s hair, “Tell your mom I’ll be back soon, ok?” The boy nodded in response.   
With that, the three warriors flew off. As they disappeared into the sky, Steven couldn't help but feel his nerves rise up again. They subsided as Yamcha placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, bud!” he said, “You’ll see them again soon enough. Now how about you show us around the boardwalk after we get settled in?” Steven smiled at them and nodded in excitement. The three of them had never really gotten a chance to go sightseeing before. Maybe things won’t be so bad after all.  
…….  
Things were not ok. Not at all. Just as Steven had suspected, the gems had shown up early. He and Gohan had looked on in horror as they saw the giant green hand first appear in the sky. What had brought them greater fear, however, was when Krillin, Tien, and Yamcha had sent them away with everyone else. It didn't matter how much they protested, the three of them wouldn't hear any of it. Chichi had been even less willing to listen, grabbing Gohan by the wrist and dragging him to the car with a firm “No way in hell,” at the very first plead.  
The three warriors assured Steven they would be fine, but as they got farther from the city and his father told him about the gem war, he realised just how much of his own fear had been mirrored in their own expressions.   
Soon enough, he couldn't take it anymore. He forced Greg to stop the car and jumped out to race home. As he passed the Son family’s car in the long line of stalled vehicles, Gohan decided to join him much to his mother’s dismay. She chased them down for half a mile until Gohan called the Flying Nimbus. After that the two boys raced back to Beach City.  
….  
“Ka-me ha-me….HAAA!”   
Yamcha and Krillin fired kamehameha waves at the giant hand ship at the same time. The twin beams of ki merely bounced off the hull of the ship. The two warriors gaped in despair as they saw the results of the effort. Tien stepped forward and positioned his hands in front of his face.   
“TRI BEAM CANNON!” he shouted. A powerful beam of energy shot from his hands and rocketed towards the ship. As it hit its mark, the whole vessel shook violently, and dented in places, but it continued on its course.  
“It barely left a scratch…” Krillin whispered, “There’s no way we can beat them.”  
“We never stood a chance…” Yamcha lamented.  
“At least we tried our best,” Tien stated, “and we did what they asked of us. The kids are safe. All we need to do now is--”  
“Tein!” a familiar voice called. The three warriors turned to look on in horror as as they saw Gohan and Steven flying towards him on the Flying Nimbus.  
“What the heck are you two doing here?!” Yamcha cried.  
“We want to help you!” Steven said with determination.  
“Do you two have a death wish?!” Krillin snapped, “Get out of here! You’ll be killed!”  
“Do you?” Gohan responded, “You’re fighting against impossible odds too!”  
“This is no time for an argument,” Tien said, pushing past the other two, “Get out of here, now!” He tried to push the children away, but as he started to do so, the ship came in for a landing. The hand unfolded and a marble of some kind appeared from the palm. It rolled down to the finger tip where it dissolved and two figures stood. One that Steven recognized as Peridot but the other he had no idea who they were. She was a tall, buff looking gem with a wild mane of white hair rolling down her back. Steven and Gohan froze in place.  
“Is this them?” the figure questioned stoically.  
“Peridot looked confused. “No...it's not. There were four of them. And one was a Namekian…” she said, brows knitting together.   
The tall figure growled and pulled someone out from behind her. A lithe, blue figure Steven and Gohan quickly recognized as Lapis Lazuli. “I thought you said this was their base!” the tall gem hissed.  
“It is! I swear!” Lapis assured as she tried to pull away.  
“Wait, she’s right!” Peridot spoke up as she pointed at Steven, “They have the same Steven as before!”  
“But the so called ‘powerful warriors’ you were so scared of are nowhere to be seen…” the buff gem hummed in disappointment, “Just a bunch of humans. Pathetic. Not even Rose Quartz herself even though her temple is right there.”  
“You need to leave! Now!” Tien ordered bravely, stepping forward, “We are the defenders of this world and we won’t let you harm it!”  
The buff gem raised an eyebrow at him before laughing. “Oh this is rich,” she grinned a toothy grin, “They really think they they can take on a quartz.” “Still, they ain’t worth my time,” she said, turning to walk away.  
“Jasper!” Peridot protested, “You were sent on this mission to aid me!”  
“Yeah, and you don’t need my help,” she said waving her hand, “Fire the basters.”  
“Steven, Gohan, RUN!” Lapis called as Peridot prepped the cannon.  
“She’s right, you two need to get out of here now, while you still can!” Yamcha said.  
“But what about you?” Gohan questioned.  
“It doesn’t matter what happens to us,” Tien shouted, “Just get out of here now!”  
“No!” Steven yelled, “All of this is my fault! And I’m not about to let you die because of me!” As the light cannon was about to go off, Steven jumped in front of it.  
“STEVEN NO!” Krillin cried as the light rocketed towards him. Gohan gripped Yamcha’s leg and looked away. But instead of blowing him to bits, it resounded with a heavy clang against something. The three humans and the three gems looked on in shock as a massive pink shield stood between them.  
“That shield!” Jasper cried in surprise.   
“Did you know he could do that?”Krillin whispered to Tein. The three-eyed man simply shook his head as he looked on.  
As it receded. Steven fell to the ground, panting. Gohan rushed towards him. He didn’t look hurt, but that didn’t stop the buildup of anger inside the five year old. “YOU….” he growled as he looked up at Jasper, “You tried to kill my FRIENDS!” Before anyone could stop him, he lunged for the giant quartz, headbutting her straight in the chest and sending her flying back. His dragon ball hat fell off his head and to the ground. The other gems and the humans present looked on in surprise.  
“Get off, runt!” Jasper roared, flinging Gohan off of her and face first into the sand. She huffed in anger as she got up, but her eyes lit up in surprise as she saw the boy get up. “He has a tail…” she breathed, “He’s a Saiyan!”  
Peridot turned to her in confusion. “That’s impossible! The Saiyan race is extinct!” she denied.  
“Apparently not…” Jasper growled before grabbing Lapis again. “You knew about this, didn’t you! About the quartz creature! The Saiyan brat!” she bit out, narrowing her eyes at the smaller gem.   
“It wasn’t relevant to the mission!” Lapis frantically reasoned.  
“Whatever…”Jasper muttered, tossing her aside. She then stalked over to Gohan and grabbed him by the tail. He squealed before going limp.  
“No!” Steven cried, “Don’t hurt him!”  
“Let him go!” Krillin ordered, jumping at her, foot aimed at her head. However, she simply grabbed him out of the air by his foot and tossed him into the side of the temple, knocking him out.  
“Take this one back to one of the cells,” Jasper commanded, handing the half-Saiyan child by his tail to Peridot, “I’ll get the abomination. Yellow Diamond is going to want to see this.” Peridot tentatively gripped the boy by the tail and began walking back to the ship as Jasper advanced on the rest of the group. Tien slammed his fist against her cheek. She wiped some spit from her mouth before kneeing him in the stomach and slamming him across the head. She left his unconscious body on the ground as she moved on to the last of the three. Yamcha managed to dodge a few of her blows, but then she smashed Yamcha’s leg and threw him across the beach.  
She then picked up Steven by his shirt as he struggled to get away.  
She grinned evilly at him, but the smile faded for a moment as she glared at him. “I was there, you know. At the first war for this garbage planet. I fought against your armies. I respected your tactics. But this...?” she spat as she shook him slightly for emphasis, “This is sick!” “I don't get what you're planning, Rose, or how you managed to get a Saiyan. But look!” She continued smirking, “Your base is taken. All that’s left of your armies are a bunch of quivering meat sacks! You have failed!” She then slammed her head against Steven, knocking him out cold.


	17. The History of Vegeta part 2

Vegeta groaned as he blinked awake. His entire body ached. There was something soft underneath him. It didn't feel like the inside of his pod. It sunk too much under his weight. Also it was completely flat. If he didn't have a terrible concussion, then that statement would have been far more redundant then it seemed to him at the time. As his vision became slightly less blurry, he found himself in a red stone room.

He squinted as he tried to figure out where he was. The last thing he remembered was getting tossed around like a rag doll in an asteroid field. Was he dead? Was this hell? If it was, then why did hell have such cozy beds? He slowly got up, much to the distress of his own battered body. Where ever he was, it wasn't where he was supposed to be. After stumbling a bit, he regained his balance and headed for the door to the room. It took him to a long, stone hallway. As he glanced down one end, he noticed that it seemed to go on forever.

"He woke up!" a voice called. Vegeta turned to see a little boy standing next to a tall woman with pink hair. She was holding some sort of bottle in her hand. They must be the ones who brought him here. And by the suspicious look in her eye, it didn't look like she would be letting him leave. And If she wasn't then he'd make his way out by force. He fired several ki blasts at the pair of strangers, but they never hit their targets. In a fraction of a second, she moved her hand upwards and a pink shield materialized, protecting them. She then thrust her hand forwards, and the shield rushed him, slamming into him and pushing him down the hall. It dissipated and he fell to the ground.

Vegeta snarled as he got up and ran towards her. The woman, or gem as vegeta now realized, stood in front of the small boy with a look of determination. Once he was a few feet away he jumped up, hoping she would think he was attempting a physical attack. At the last minute a powerful ball of energy formed in his hand. As he threw it down she knelt and formed a smaller shield, but this time she slid her hand across the rim, causing it to spin. One of the support spirals in the shield caught the blast and carried it before sending it back at him. As it exploded against his stomach, he was sent flying back again before rolling across the floor. Vegeta tried to get up, but was too woozy from the combination of his concussion and the strength of his own ki blast.

The gem walked up to him with the child in toe. "Stay back!" he growled as she got closer. The gem paid his threat no mind as she knelt down infront of him. Vegeta prepared for whatever attack she may have planned next, however he was not prepared for what she said.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Vegeta looked at her dumbfounded. "Huh?" he asked.

"I said, are you alright?" she repeated, "You were swaying when you tried to attack us, and you were knocked out when we found you. If you have a concussion, we need to treat it right away."

Vegeta didn't know what to say to that. Why was she concerned with him? He had tried to attack her! When she didn't get a response, she picked the teen up and began carrying him back to the room. "Come on," she said, "Let's get you taken care of."

Vegeta couldn't do much to protest. He was too tired and dizzy to do anything really. He looked over the gem's shoulder as she carried him bridal style. The little boy was still trailing behind her. As he got a closer look, he noticed something swinging back and forth behind the boy as he walked along cheerfully. His eyes widened as he realized what the brown appendage was: a tail.

"What are you staring at?" the boy asked curiously as he noticed the older Saiyan's gaze.

"You're a Saiyan…" Vegeta said.

The boy looked at him in confusion. Vegeta didn't think he could possibly find anything more surprising that day...until the boy spoke again. "What's a Saiyan?" he asked.

….

Vegeta examined the damaged pod as his two captors looked on from the top of the crater. He frowned as tried to find a way to start it again. After the two strangers, Rose and "Goku" as they called themselves, healed him with the magic water from the bottle the gem had been holding, the gave him an offer. He could either leave and not return or live peacefully with them.

Much to the disappointment of the Saiyan boy, he chose to find his ship and leave. However, that looked less and less possible now. His ship had been so bent out of shape from the asteroids that it couldn't even turn on anymore, let alone fly. He growled as he gave up fiddling with the wiring and got up. He levitated out of the crater and back up to the rim.

"Having trouble?" Rose asked, grinning slightly.

"The pod is wrecked…" he admitted, "I'm stuck on this planet for now."

"Sooo you'll be staying with us, right?" Goku asked, a smile gracing his face, "That's awesome! You and I can be sparring partners and you you can tell me about the Saiyans!'

Vegeta narrowed his eyes at the boy. "I never agreed to stay with you," he hissed.

"I'm afraid you don't have a chose in the matter," Rose stated politely, "I gave you two options: stay with us or leave. I'm sorry, but I can't trust you to live here on your own without hurting anyone."

Vegeta smirked at her. "You can't keep me anywhere if you can't catch me," he sneered, before rocketing off, laughing.

Rose sighed and brought her hands up, focusing her energy. She hoped she wouldn't have to do this. Vegeta looked back at her as he flew off, curious as to what she was doing. Was she preparing some kind of an attack. He found out what she was doing as he hit a pink forcefield. Rose could feel her energy draining as she held up the giant field. With a deep exhale, the force field began to shrink until it was only a pink bubble enclosing the saiyan prince. She relaxed slightly as it floated to the ground a short distance away from them.

The two walked over to the confused saiyan as he picked himself up. "What the hell?" he questioned, "What is this? Let me go!" He then began to pound against the side of the bubble.

"We'll let you out once we get back to the temple," she explained.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, you overgrown rock!" he snapped. A purple sphere of energy formed in his hand. "GALIC GUN!" he shouted as a beam of light erupted from his hand and hit the side of the bubble. Rose and Goku shielded their eyes as the light filled the bubble. when it dissipated, the both turned to see the bubble still standing and a rather crispy looking Vegeta standing in the center of it. "Alright, you win," he grumbled.

Rose smiled and Goku cheered. "Wonderful then!" she said, "Come on, Goku. Help me roll him back to the warp pad." The younger Saiyan nodded and began pushing the pink bubble along with her.

…..

Several months later…

Rose had been very accommodating for the young prince. She made sure he had his own room that he could do whatever he wanted with, let him go hunting with Goku, train with him under her supervision, and even set up a fence around the beach so that he could have some privacy. She had hoped she had made some progress with him. He followed her rules for the most part and seemed to get along with Goku just fine, although he continued to call him Kakarot for some reason. Her hopes had been dashed however one night, when he snuck out during the full moon.

Rose had been returning from a mission late one night, and was met with Goku waiting for her. "He turned into a monster!" he cried, "Vegeta went outside and looked at the moon and he turn into a giant monkey!"

"He did what?!" Rose cried, horrified, "Where is he?"

"He's went into the town," Goku explained, "I would have gone after him but…" He stopped for a second, looking down. "'Rose...If I look at the moon...would I become a monster too?" he asked.

Rose sighed. She really didn't want to have this conversation right now. "Yes Goku, you would," she said solemnly.

"And so...and so I was the one who…" he stopped.

"Goku," she said kneeling down, "I know what you're about to say, and I know this is something you need to talk about, but right now is not the right time. I need to stop Vegeta, and then we can talk about this. But for now, know this: you are not a monster now and to me, you never will be, and that is what matters, ok?" Goku nodded. "Good," she said, kissing his forehead, "Now go back in the temple and fetch me my sword."

Vegeta crushed the east docks as he ran away from the city, adding to the list of destruction in his wake. Nothing could stop him now. He was free! He could go anywhere or do anything he wanted. That gemm could do nothing to stop him. She may be strong, but there was no way a mere healer could stand up against the might of a raging Oozaru. Now all he had to do was find a way off this planet. As he exited the city limits, he felt the rush of something pass him by.

He slowed down as he saw ahead of himself, a feminine figure in a white dress: Rose.

He stopped in front of her and growled. "Stand down or I will crush you beneath my foot," he roared.

"No," she stated firmly, brandishing her sword, "I'll give you one warning, Vegeta. Stop this now, and no harm will come to you. If you do not return to the temple with me peacefully, there will be serious consequences."

Vegeta laughed. "You think you can take me on like this? Go ahead and try!" he snarled. with that, he swung one of his giant fists at her. She lept out of the way and landed on his hand, running up the length of his arm. Once she got to his shoulder, she jumped and slashed him across the face and landed on his other arm. Vegeta roared and glared at her, before swatting her away.

She tumbled across the ground and Vegeta raised his hands up together to smash her. he brought them down together, and she rolled out of the way at the last second. She took the opportunity to slash him across the stomach. Vegeta grabbed her as she sliced him. He held her up to his face and open his mouth, a beam of ki energy formed at the back of his throat. As he prepared to blast her, she summoned her shield. The blast hit it like the force of a truck, cracking the shield slightly.

Once it dissipated, she released her shield and raised her sword before stabbing his hand with it. He roared in pain, dropping her. She ran behind him, running her sword across his leg as she did. He stumbled and gripped his leg, falling to his knee. Seething with rage, he slammed her with his tail. She took that opportunity to grab it, and climb up to the base. With one swing, she chopped the tail clean off. Vegeta screamed in pain as he slowly began to shrink.

soon he was lying on the ground, weak, naked, and wounded. He tried to get up but fell again, too weak from blood loss. His breathing became heavy as he contemplated his fate. How? How could this have happened? He should have been able to crush her in seconds. Yet he fell to her like a stack of dominos. He mentally laughed at himself. He had been beaten in his strongest state by a single gem. How could he ever hope to take revenge Frieza? Not that it mattered anyways. He was going to die any minute.

He watched from the ground as Rose approached him, her sword glistening with his blood and her eyes steely. He never thought this gem would be able to draw fear from him, yet here he was, petrified. 'This was it,' he told himself. As she stopped in front of him, he closed his eyes, awaiting her blade. Moments passed and nothing happened. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. "Well?" he huffed, "What are you waiting for?" He had already resigned himself. There was no need for her to draw it out.

Once again, the gem managed to surprise him. Rose sheathed her sword and picked up the young prince, carrying him bridal style. "Hold on," she whispered gently, though her voice was still cold, "we'll get you fixed up soon enough." Vegeta blinked in confusion. What was she doing? He had just destroyed a good portion of her city in his escape. he had just attacked her, willing to kill her if necessary. Why didn't she do the same? Vegeta's eyes began to droop as he became too dizzy to think. His eyes finally closed as he passed out in her arms.

….

When he awoke, he found himself in the red room again on the soft bed. He found he had been fully healed aside from his tail. He also found Rose had been sitting there, waiting for him to wake up. Vegeta could see the anger in her eyes. That night, he had expected her to tear him apart, and now she did, but not in the way he had expected.

He had never seen her so angry as she yelled at him. She berated him for everything he managed to do wrong that night, from betraying her trust to hurting the innocent, and for once Vegeta didn't feel like arguing back. "And above all, I am disappointed in you. I thought you were better than this, Vegeta!" she spat, "I believed you were more than just one of the Colds faceless grunts, killing for the fun of it! I've seen you be better than that! You were doing fine and you let yourself fall back into it again. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Vegeta thought for a moment before speaking. "I wasn't trying to hurt people," he explained, "Not this time anyways. I was trying to get away so I could figure out how to get off planet."

"What, so you could just go back and join the Frieza Force again?" she snapped.

"Yes, but not for what you think," he defended sharply, "I need to be close enough to him and strong enough to one day destroy him." The anger disappeared from Rose's face and was replaced by surprise and curiosity. Vegeta then explained everything. How when the Saiyan's original planet had been destroyed they had made an alliance to work for Frieza in order to gain a new one. How he had been kidnapped at the age of five to join Frieza's army and threaten his father into submission. How he had been raised under his rule to be just as merciless, and most of all how Frieza have wiped out his planet and caused the near extinction of the Saiyan race. "My goal in the end is to make him pay for what he did to me and my people," he explained.

"I'm so sorry…" she responded solemnly, "I didn't know."

"I don't need your pity. Pity isn't going to solve my problems," he retorted, "But that brings me to my question: Why didn't you kill me? You didn't know it wasn't my intent to hurt people, and you didn't know my history. You had every reason to put me down on the spot, so why didn't you?"

"Well," she started, "It's because I really did believe in you, and still do. Even in that moment. Vegeta, you may not care for the people of the Earth, but you are more than capable of living here peacefully. You may not admit it, but I know you've enjoyed at least part of your time here. I've seen you smile when you spar with Goku or when you two come back from a successful hunt." "And now I have an offer to make you," she continued, "I will help you prepare to one day face Frieza. You can stay and train with me until you've surpassed me and whatever else you feel the Earth has to offer, and then I will help you find a way to get off planet. Do we have a deal?" She held her hand out to him.

Vegeta paused for a moment before smiling and taking her hand. "Deal," he said with a nod.

….

Two years later…

It was a bright, sunny day. Rose tended to her fountain garden, making sure the plants had water and that they were all trimmed properly. She hummed to herself slightly as she worked. She was so absorbed in her gardening, that she almost didn't notice the rustling of the bushes behind her.

She stopped in her watering and looked up, scanning the area. The fountain square was void of all life except plant life. All was quiet except the splash of the water and the song of a nearby bird.

Suddenly, she felt a slight breeze. She turned and caught Vegeta in midair, foot inches from her face. She smirked at him, before tossing him aside. He flipped through the air before landing in a crouching position. The fifteen year old's tail twitched before he attempted to charge at her again, this time trying to attack her with several quick jabs. She blocked half of them before grabbing his arm and pinning it behind him. He attempted to wriggle out of her grip but was unable to.

"Well done, Vegeta," she praised as she let him go, "You almost had the jump on me that time."

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm helping you get stronger as much as you're helping me…" he muttered. He rubbed his arm slightly, before smirking. "I'm getting closer though," he teasingly warned, "One of these days you're going to end up flat on the floor thanks to me."

She smiled at him. "And I will be more than proud of you when that day comes," she said bowing to him, to which the young Saiyan returned. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my pupil, I must return to my gardening," she said, "We'll have a formal training session in roughly an hour. Unless you want to help me with my garden, you might want to find something to keep yourself busy until then."

Vegeta nodded. "Yes, Ma'am," he stated before leaping away. Rose smiled at where he had been before turning back to her magnolias.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that concludes Vegeta's backstory. Hope you guys liked it, and happy 30th anniversary to the dragon ball anime!


	18. Goku and Ms. Anonymous

Krillin couldn't believe his eyes. He had to be dreaming because Goku never acted like this. It was like his personality had been switched out for someone else. The first thing Krillin noticed about Goku was that he wasn’t smiling. He always smiled, particularly at tournaments. But now, it was like he didn’t even want to be at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. He was quick to want to finish rounds and impatient when the rounds of others stretched on.   
Something was definitely on his mind but he wouldn’t say what. Whatever it was had a serious effect on him, because he was having trouble sleeping and was barely eating!...Well barely eating by Goku’s standards. He still managed to scarf down twenty full course meals at a time…  
And whatever was occupying his mind, that Ms. Anonymous sure wasn’t helping. It got to the point where he actually snapped at her.  
“I’m sorry ok!” he shouted, “But I really don’t remember who you are! It’s probably been years since I’ve seen you and to be completely honest, whatever it is you’re angry about probably hasn’t been a priority in my mind for the last eight months or so!” With that, he stormed off, leaving her dumbstruck.  
He didn’t speak to her again until they met again in the semi finals. She had defeated Yamcha meanwhile Goku had knocked Tien out of the ring the first chance he got. He didn’t even get to show off his new duplication technique!  
When it came to their match they stood opposite from each other. Ms Anonymous had been waiting for this for some time. Goku was going to pay for forgetting about her. However, as soon as their match started, a green figure with a turban and cape landed on the stage.   
“Goku, You need to go now!” he demanded.  
“Uh...Sir? You can’t interfere with the match,” the announcer pointed out.  
“Shut it! This doesn't concern you!” the green man barked.  
“What? What happened?” Goku asked, concern written on his face.  
“Goku, who is this?” Anonymous asked. The two ignored her.  
“She’s gone into labor! We have to hurry!” the stranger proclaimed.  
Both Goku and Ms Anonymous’s eyes widened in shock. Her shoulders slumped. “L-labor…?” Ms Anonymous squeaked, heart breaking.   
Once again they ignored her. “W-what?! Already?” Goku exclaimed, fear clear in his voice, “What are we waiting for! Let’s get out of here!”   
The two were about to take off when Krillin called to the teenage Saiyan. “Goku! What are you doing?! What about the match?” he shouted.  
“I’m sorry but I can’t stay any longer! I’ll see you guys soon, ok?” he promised absentmindedly. Then the pair flew off, disappearing into the horizon in a matter of seconds.  
The whole arena was silent with shock. Ms Anonymous, or rather, Chichi was the most shocked out of all of them...and the most crushed. ‘he said labor…’ she thought, ‘Does that mean he found someone else? Someone he decided to have a family with?...And that he completely forgot his promise to me?’ tears formed in her eyes as the announcer spoke up again. “Well...I guess this means Goku forfeits...Ms Anonymous wins by default!” he proclaimed. The audience cheered half heartedly. Chichi, however, couldn’t care less. Winning was the last thing on her mind.  
….  
After Krillin won the tournament, Chichi approached him about Goku. Her tears of sorrow had turned to pearls of rage. How DARE he break his promise to her! Did he even realise how many suitors she turned down in waiting for him?! She was going to give that man a peice of her mind if it was the last thing she did.   
“Please Krillin, you’ve just gotta tell me where he lives!” she explained, “I have to talk to him!”  
“I’m sorry Chichi, but I can’t help you,” he responded, “I’d like to visit him as much as you, but I have no clue where he lives!” Chichi’s shoulders fell in disappointment. “But,” he continued, “Bulma knows.” She perked up at that.  
And so as soon as Bulma was available, the three of them headed off to Beach City. When they landed early in the morning and asked for the monkey tailed man, they were directed to a fenced off area of the beach. The fence was broken down and a battered warning sign was swinging from where it was posted. They ignored it as they trekked through the area. It wasn’t long until they came across the same green man from before, hovering as he meditated.  
“Hey you!” Bulma called, “Can you tell us where Goku is?”   
He opened one eye to look at them before frowning. “Goku’s busy,” he stated simply, “Now leave. Humans aren’t welcome here.”  
“Come on! We’re some of Goku’s closest friends!” Krillin argued, “Can’t we see him?”  
“No,” he replied firmly, “Go away.”  
Chichi growled and marched up to him. “Listen her, Buster,” she snapped, “I don’t care who you think you are, but if you don’t take me to Goku right this instant, you’re going to regret it!”  
The stranger flinched slightly at her anger. “Fine, I’ll take you to him,” he grumbled, getting up. He lead them up the hill to the temple. They walked inside the cavern up to the temple door. “he’s in there, but again, he’s busy,” he explained before departing.  
Chichi banged on the door. “Goku? Goku, open up!” she hollard. When there wasn’t a response, she banged on the door again. “I know you’re in there! Get out here!” she demanded.  
“Calm down, Chichi!” Krillin urged, “Like the guy said, Goku’s probably-” He was the cut off by the sound of crying and frantic muttering behind the door as footsteps got closer. The door opened to reveal a very tired and frazzled looking Goku. Dark circles were under his eyes and his hair and gi were even messier than than usual. He seemed to shrink under some invisible weight, and in his arms lay a crying infant. “...busy,” Krillin finished, shock clear on his face as well as Bulma’s.  
“Hey guys,” he said, giving a weary smile as the baby continued to scream, “Good to see you…”  
“Good to see you too?” Bulma said forcing a smile.  
“Aw jeez, Goku, you look terrible!” Krillin exclaimed bluntly, to which Bulma promptly smacked him for.  
“Yeah, I know…” he sighed, “I was supposed to look after little Steven today, but I’m not very good at it…I couldn’t get him to stop crying last night!”  
“Well I’m sure you’re better at it than keeping promises,” Chichi hissed.  
“Huh?” he said dazed.  
“You still don’t know who I am, do you?” she lamented, “Well here’s reminder: you promised to marry me!”  
Gou’s eyes widened. “...I did?” he asked.  
“Yes, I’m the Ox King’s daugter! You promised to marry me when you were twelve and yet here you are having a child with another woman!!!” she raged, “How could you? Do you know how long I waited for you?”  
Goku blinked slowly, utterly confused. “I-I….I didn’t...Steven isn’t…,” he started, “Steven’s not my kid.”  
Now all three of the humans looked shocked. “If he's not yours, then whose is he?” Bulma questioned.  
“He’s Rose’s,” Goku stated, “See? He has her gem.” He exposed the whimpering child’s belly as he continued to try and rock him.  
“Ohhhh….” Bulma and Krillin said simultaneously.  
Chichi, however, was still confused. “Who’s Rose?” she asked.  
“Rose is Goku’s adoptive mother,” Bulma explained. The confusion in Chichi’s eyes shifted to realization and her anger dissipated, being replaced with guilt.  
“She’s usually there to watch him at the tournaments, but she wasn't there this year,” Krillin noted, “I guess that explains why.”   
“But wait,” Bulma said, “You said that’s her gem...does that mean…” Her eyes were wide with worry, as were Krillin’s when the realization hit him too.  
Goku’s face became somber. “I’m afraid so…” he muttered, “She gave up her life for Steven to live.” Chichi’s hand went to her mouth to cover up a gasp.   
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Krillin admitted honestly, “How have you been doing? Are you alright?”  
Goku shrugged. “Better than at first. I’m mostly just tired now. It’s weird without her around...Things seem kind of empty,” he explained, “Vegeta and Piccolo haven’t been much better. Vegeta disappeared the day after Steven was born and we haven’t heard from him since, and Piccolo has done nothing but meditate and train. He barely says a word to anyone anymore, even me.”  
“P-piccolo?” the three asked nervously.   
“Not King Piccolo,” he assured, “This guy’s different. He’s the one who picked me up from the tournament.” They nodded in understanding, relief flooding over them. “Anyways, I have been keeping busy though,” he continued, “I’ve continued training and I’ve been trying to help out with this little guy. Greg left Steven with me yesterday because he had to go out of town for the day. He needed new parts for his car wash. But I don’t know how to stop him from crying…” As if on cue, Steven’s cries got louder again.   
Chichi felt a stronger pang of guilt with every word he said. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. “Oh, Goku I’m so sorry!” she cried, engulfing him in a hug, careful not to crush the infant. Goku blinked in surprise before wrapping his free arm around her. “I’m so sorry for accusing you of breaking you promise and for getting so mad at you. I had no idea you were dealing with such grief,” she continued, “If you need some help with him I would be more than happy too.”  
“Really?” he asked, “Thanks Chichi! I’d really appreciate it. I’m sorry about not recognizing you.”  
“It’s alright,” she responded with a smile, “now let's go get this little guy taken care of.”  
….  
“So he was up like this for half the night? What did you do to calm him down?” Chichi asked as she held the infant. They were sitting outside on the beach, Greg’s baby bag near by.  
“Everything I could think of,” Goku said, “I checked his diaper like Greg showed me but it wasn’t dirty. I tried rocking him, but you saw that was useless. I even tried singing to him...but I think that made it worse.”  
“And you burped him after you fed, right?” Chichi prompted. Goku gave her a look of surprise before looking down sheepishly.  
“You mean fed him dinner, right?” he asked quietly.  
Chichi’s eye’s widened. “You didn’t feed him last night?!” she sputtered.  
“I did!” Goku explained, “But not during the night! Humans only eat three times a day, right?”  
“Adult humans, yes, but not infants!” she cried in exasperation, “You need to feed them every few hours!”  
“I didn’t know...,” Goku murmured guiltily, “Sorry Steven…”  
“Well, let’s feed him now,” she said pulling a bottle out of the bag. She then handed it to him. “Warm it up,” she commanded. Goku did so, using a small ball of ki to do so. Once he was done, he handed it back to her and she tested it on her arm before giving it to the baby.  
Steven immediately calmed down and took the bottle, greedily drinking away. Gokku leaned in next to her, watching her. Once he was done, she burped him and began rocking him to sleep. “Wow, You’re a natural at this,” he commented.  
She smiled. “Thank you,” she said, “I certainly hope so. I’ve always wanted to have kids someday.”  
Goku’s mouth twitched in amusement. “Really?” he asked, “From my experience, it’s pretty stressful.”  
“Yes, but I think it’s worth it to watch them grow up,” she said looking down at Steven who was now fast asleep in her arms.  
“Hm…” Goku responded, eyes drooping. A few minutes passed before Chichi felt a weight on her shoulder. She turned her head to see Goku’s head resting on her shoulder. His eyes were closed and he was fast asleep. She smiled at him before relaxing head against his. She took a deep breath of the ocean air before sighing happily. It was so peaceful. Chichi felt like she could stay here forever. ‘Maybe I should…’ she thought.


	19. Jail Break

The three warriors flew back to the beach as fast as they could. Kami had managed to pry the door to the hyperbolic time chamber open to warn them as the invaders arrived, and so they wasted no time flying back to the port town. However, as they got closer, they noticed the ship was actually leaving the atmosphere. Had the three humans managed to scare them off? When they landed on the beach, they quickly found that was not the case. Two of them were lying on the ground unconscious, while Yamcha was gripping his broken leg in pain.

"Yamcha, what happened?" Goku said running up to him.

"The gems came early. There were only three of them, but we were no match for them…" he admitted as the others began to stir.

"Then why aren't you dead?" Vegeta asked bluntly.

"Vegeta!" Goku cried.

"No, I mean think about it," Vegeta explained, "These gems come from a very ruthless race. They were most likely bent on destroying us and yet now they're leaving. If by some miracle they thought you were us and they completed their mission, then you should be dead, but you're not. Why?"

"Uh guys?" Goku called, examining something on the beach, "Why is Gohan's hat here?" He picked up the Dragon Ball hat and brushed off some of the sand.

Yamcha swallowed nervously. "Because they dropped it when they took Gohan and Steven..." Yamcha admitted.

The three aliens looked at him in shock. "WHAT?!" Piccolo cried.

"T-they took them both?!" Goku repeated in horror.

Vegeta marched over and picked up Yamcha by his shirt and shook him. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! You idiots had one job: keep them safe! We even told you exactly how to do so!" he roared, "How could you have messed that up?! THEY COULD BE DEAD NOW THANKS TO YOU!"

"D-dead?" Goku whispered to himself, staring off. His fists clenched.

"V-Vegeta, we did our best! Honest!" Yamcha started but was silenced as Vegeta punched him in the gut, causing him to be sent flying. Vegeta growled angrily stomping over to the human, a ball of ki forming in his hand. Whatever restraint he had dissipated. Steven, his protege and the last remnant of his dear mentor, might very well be gone forever and it looked like there was nothing he could do about it. They might not even be able to use the Dragon Balls to bring him back due to his gem half. And as far as he was concerned, if he couldn't take his anger out on the boy's attacker, the human who let it happen would suffice. Meanwhile the other Saiyan's rage was building for similar reasons. But instead of losing just one person he cared for, he'd lost two. Goku's fists were shaking as he tried to control himself.

"Vegeta stop!" Piccolo demanded, grabbing his shoulder. The prince turned to glare at him. "They didn't do anything wrong! There's no point in hurting them," the Namekian stated.

"THAT'S BULL-" the prince started.

"They came back on their own!" Tien spoke up as he got up. "We sent them away like you wanted. We even had to force them to leave," he explained, "But at the last second the boys came back on the flying nimbus. There was nothing we could do."

"YOU CAN FLY!" he snapped, turning on the three-eyed man, "You could have grabbed them and gotten out of there, but YOU. DID. NOTHING!" He then lunged at Tien.

"ENOUGH!" Goku shouted. A wave of energy suddenly erupted from him, disrupting the fight. The warriors had to protect their eyes as sand went flying. If they had been able to open them, they would have caught sight of the Saiyan's hair flash gold for half a second. When the wave subsided, Goku huffed slightly, anger and determination clear on his face. The Z fighters uncovered their eyes to look up at Goku, slightly afraid. "There's no time for fighting," he said seriously, "Whether they killed them or not, we have to go after them. We can't let them get away with this!"

"How do we get on their ship?" Piccolo asked, "They're probably out of Earth's atmosphere by now."

"Kami's Lookout might have something that can help us," Goku responded.

…..

Steven's eyes fluttered open. The first things he noticed were that there was a buzzing noise and that his eye hurt. He sat up to find himself in some kind of cell with a force field. Against his better judgement, he tentatively stuck out his hand out to touch the field. When he did, it didn't shock him or anything, but gave him a fuzzy, tingling sensation as the light crawled up his arm.

"Ew!" he exclaimed. Then he got an idea. He pushed his whole body against the force field and fell out of the cell. "I'm out!" he cheered. Suddenly, he heard a high pitched shout. "Gohan!" he cried, running after the noise.

He stopped when he came to another hallway and heard another voice. "Stay still, you pebble!" it snapped. Steven looked around the corner to see Peridot chasing after Gohan. "Grrr! I don't know how you keep getting out, but you will stay in this time or I will report your insolence when we get back to homeworld!" she threatened.

"No! I'm not going anywhere with you!" he shouted as she leaned down to grab him. He jumped into the air and onto her back, causing her to lose balance and fall face first onto the floor.

"GRAAH! Get off me!" she cried, flailing her robotic arms.

Steven had to stifle a snicker at the scene before him. His amusement dissipated as much gruffer voice bellowed down the hall. "What is the Sayian doing outside its cell?" Jasper's voice called. Steven hid as she approached. "I thought I told you to keep it under lock and key," she snapped, roughly grabbing Gohan by his shirt.

"I tried! I even put the destabilization field on its highest setting, but it still kept getting out!" Peridot defended as she got up, "I don't even get why we took them prisoner anyways. It wasn't our mission in the first place."

"Fine, if you're so incompetent, Then I'll just deal with this myself," she growled. She then ripped something out of the wall and leaned inside one of the empty cells. She pinned the struggling half Saiyan down before placing the heavy object on his tail. He squealed before going limp. "There, that should take care of it," she said standing up and turning on the destabilization field. "Now get back to the control room," Jasper said, turning to Peridot, "We need to get these two to Yellow Diamond as soon as possible."

"My Daddy...will stop you!" Gohan spoke up weakly.

Jasper rolled her eyes at him. "Whatever brat. Unless your "Daddy" can survive the void of space, you're not going anywhere," she sneered before walking away. "What's a 'daddy'?" she whispered to Peridot. The green gem simply shrugged as he walked away.

When they disappeared, Steven stepped out of his hiding place. "Steven?" Gohan whispered, trying to raise his head.

The half gem smiled and nodded, holding a finger up to his mouth. "I'm gonna get you out of there, hold on!" he whispered. He pressed his hands against the field, however this time it wasn't a tingling feeling he felt, but and itchy and slightly burning feeling. "Ow!" he whispered, "What's the deal with this one?"

"The put it on a higher setting cause I kept getting out…" Gohan explained.

Steven nodded and tried again, ignoring the uncomfortable sensation until he could grab Gohan and drag him out. As he did so, the boy's tail slipped out from under the block from the ship's wall. Once it had, Gohan was able to jump up and dust himself off.

"Thanks Steven!" the little boy said before hugging him. He took a step back and noticed the half gem's black eye. "Steven, are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, they just knocked me out. What about you?" he responded.

"I'm fine. My tail hurts though…" the half Saiyan commented, "We need to find a way off this place. I think the big orange one might be right and Daddy and the others might not be able to come for us…"

"An escape pod!" Steven exclaimed, "They always have them in the movies. We can steal one of their pods and get back to Earth."

Gohan smiled and nodded. "Good idea!" he said, "Let's go!" With that, the two boys snuck down the hallway. They searched high and low, but there were no escape pods to be found. However, they came across something else. "Lapis!" the two boys cried as they spotted the blue figure behind one of the destabilizer barriers. She turned and looked at them in surprise before a wide smile crossed her face.

"Oh thank goodness you two are ok! I thought Jasper was going to shatter you for sure!" she cried, relieved.

"Don't worry, we're fine," Gohan assured.

"Wait, why are they letting you out?" she questioned, "You are prisoners here, right?"

"We escaped!" Steven exclaimed.

"And we can get you out too," Gohan said, stretching his arms out, "Just watch!"

"No!" Lapis cried in fear, "You need to get back to your cells now!"

The two boys looked at her in confusion. "But Lapis…" Steven said, "Don't you want to be free?"

"Yes but it isn't worth it if you're just going to get into more trouble! Steven, Gohan, you have no idea how bad this situation is right now. If you just go back now, they might go easy on you," she explained, "Right now it's better to be safe than free."

"That's no kind of life!" Gohan exclaimed, "Mr. Vegeta always says that it's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!"

"Then he's a bigger idiot than I thought!" Lapis retorted.

"Come on Lapis," Steven urged, "All we have to do is find an escape pod and get out of here! Everything will be fine after that!"

"Until they come back for us that is!" she replied, "Steven, it's no use. No matter what we do, we're trapped. The best option now is to play it safe."

Steven was about to respond, when they heard Jasper's voice down the hall. "ROSE QUARTZ! WHERE IS SHE?!" she bellowed.

"You two need to get out of here! Now!" Lapis warned, "Don't let her catch you!"

The two nodded as they headed off down the hall. "We'll come back for you, ok?" Steven said over his shoulder.

….

The three aliens landed on the emerald ship as the flashing lights died away. "It's been so long since I used the teleportation room that I had almost forgotten it existed," Goku commented.

"Good thing we weren't out of range for it yet," Piccolo observed, "Though I'm betting we are now, so that means we need someone to man the controls and turn this thing around. Vegeta, you look for the control room while Goku and I will look for the kids."

"Why me?" he asked.

"Because you're the only one out of the three of us that has ever flown a space ship," Piccolo stated bluntly. Vegeta grumbled but nodded. "Good," Piccolo affirmed. With that the three of them headed off into different directions.

Vegeta ran down the hall. To be honest the last thing he wanted to be was designated driver. He was still furious, and really wanted to knock some heads. As he cut through a circular room, he was stopped by the sight of a tall orange gem standing before him.

"What the-" she started in surprise, "Another one? How many more of you Saiyans are there? What, did the whole race just pick up and move to this backwater planet before your own blew up?"

Vegeta smirked. "No but this planet does seem to attract what little there is left of us," he stated, "and, apparently, carbon copy grunts like yourself."

Jasper growled at him before summoning her weapon and leaped at him. Vegeta managed to jump out of the way just as she smashed the ground where he had been standing. "Who do you think you are, talking to me like that? You may be a Saiyan but you're still nothing more than a flea bitten bag of meat!" she snarled.

"Oh I am so much more that that," he stated with a slight chuckle. "I am Vegeta. Prince of all Saiyans. Pupil to Rose Quartz and defender of the Earth," he proclaimed. "And you my friend," he said before darting forward and punching her in the gut and sending her flying across the room, "Have royally pissed me off."

Jasper picked herself up, practically seething. "If you think you scare me, then you've got another thing coming," she warned, "Before the pact between The Colds and the Gem Empire was formed, I had the pleasure of facing many of your kind in battle, and let me tell you, I'm going to enjoy crushing you as much as I did them!"

"Well then," Vegeta started, still smirking darkly. He then seemingly disappeared. Jasper looked around wildly for him until she was suddenly hit in the back of the head with a roundhouse kick. Vegeta landed in a fighting stance, a vengeful smile clear on his face. "Go ahead and try and hit me if you're able," he sneered as the gem got up.

….

Piccolo ran through the halls in search of the children. He could sense their ki, but this place was like a labyrinth. It was near impossible to pinpoint their exact location. They seemed to be moving, so they must have escaped some how. He just hoped they weren't in too much trouble. As he rounded a corner, he felt their signatures getting closer. Hopefully he would run into them soon.

He ran down a hallway as fast as he could. So fast infact, that he almost didn't stop himself from ramming into another green alien. He skidded to a halt as Peridot looked up from her screen. Both of them stared at each other wide-eyed for a moment in an awkward silence.

"Ummm….hi?" he finally said.

The bewildered gem took one step back, then another. "J-Jaaaaaspeeeeer!" she shouted as she turned and ran. Piccolo sighed. He hated having to do this. He threw up his arms and the quickly stretched away from his body, and snatching the gem up. She squeaked in surprise as she was suddenly pulled backwards as his arms retracted. She squirmed against his grip. "Let go of me!" she cried.

"Sorry, but I can't have you squealing to your higher ups," Piccolo stated, unapologetically, "So for now, you're just gonna have to tag along with me." He then continued on down the hallway, hoping the others were having better luck than him.

….

As fate would have it, Goku was having a lot more luck. As he turned the corner, he found the the two boys skidding to a halt. "Gohan! Steven!" he cried scooping them up in a hug, "I was so worried about you two!"

"Daddy!" Gohan cheered.

"I'd knew you guys would come!" Steven exclaimed, "How'd you get on board?"

"Kami has a teleportation room in the lookout," he explained, "Now come on, we need to find Piccolo and get to the control room. With that, they raced off. As they crossed down corridors, they took a sharp turn left bringing them face to face with the Namekian. "Well we got the first thing on our to do list done quickly," Goku observed, "How are you doing Piccolo? It looks like you made a friend."

Peridot hissed at him from her place underneath Piccolo's arm. "Come on, there's no time to lose," the Namekian stated, "Let's get to the control room and meet up with Vegeta." With that, the Z warriors and the children raced off.

The door to the control room slid open, to reveal emptiness. "He's not here yet?" Piccolo questioned, "What it he doing? he was supposed to go straight here!"

"Maybe he ran into Jasper," Steven suggested.

"Who?" Goku asked.

"My escort!" Peridot said proudly, "You Clods are going to be in deep trouble when she's finished with you friend!"

"I doubt that," Piccolo stated, "Well, since Vegeta's not here, we better at least try to figure this out on our own." He then handed Peridot over to Goku. "Here," he said, "I'll figure out the controls. You keep her from escaping." Goku saluted the Namekian as he held the squirming green gem. Piccolo walked up to the controls and placed his hands on it. Information suddenly started flooding through his brain as he took control of the ship.

…..

Jasper rammed Vegeta though the floor into the power core room. Once he hit the ground, he kicked her in the stomach, flinging her off. "Nice one," he said, getting up and wiping his mouth, "But if you think that'll stop me then you better think again."

"I'm just getting warmed up, ape!" she hissed as she got to her feet. She summoned her weapon again and rushed at him head first. Vegeta stopped her helm with his hand. Jasper grinned maliciously as she took the opportunity to grab his tail from around his waist. Vegeta became paralyzed for a moment and Jasper punched him in the gut before flinging him across the room and into a wall.

Vegeta groaned as he sat in the rubble. Jasper smirked as she walked over to him. "What say you now, Saiyan?" she chuckled, "What? No insult? No witty retort? Any last words at all?"

"Yeah," he said, stumbling to his feet, "I'm done playing games." He stuck out his hand and Jasper looked at him in confusion.

"Galic…." Vegeta shouted, gathering as much energy as he possibly could. If this attack couldn't wipe her out, then nothing would. "GUUUUUUN!" he roared as he fired the purple beam of light. Jasper's eyes widened and she barely had a moment to react before the blast blew straight through her chest and into the power core. She immediately retreated into her gem which fell to the ground with a clink.

Vegeta walked over to it, ready to crush it beneath his boot, when an explosion suddenly came from the core. "Damnit! No time for this," he hissed, "I need to get to the control room." With that, he raced off leaving the gem behind.

….

The explosion shook the whole ship. "Woah!" Goku shouted as he stumbled, accidentally letting go of Peridot. The gem crawled away as fast as she could. "Hey! Get back here!" Goku cried.

Suddenly, the gem face planted, and she was enveloped in a green sphere. Said sphere was then sucked into the floor and shot out to the earth below.

"Well I guess that's one more thing to worry about…" Goku muttered.

"What about Vegeta? Where is he?" Steven cried.

No sooner had the child spoken, did the Saiyan Prince stumble through the door. "Vegeta! You're ok!" Steven shouted, running up to him and hugging him, "What happened to you?"

"I had a run in with the angry orange giant," Vegeta explained, "But nevermind that now. We need to get out of here. The powercore exploded and the ship is going down."

"But what about Lapis?" Gohan asked.

"There's no time for that!" he snapped, "Steven, form a bubble! Now!" The boy did as he was commanded as they plummeted to the earth below.

….

Once they had been freed from their rubble prison by the ever trusty Lion, they had all breathed a sigh of relief. That relief didn't last long, however, as a particular mound of rubble glowed before Jasper emerged out of it.

"I knew I should have smashed her when I had the chance…" Vegeta growled.

"You…" she spat at them as she stumbled forward, "You think you've won?!"

"I destroyed your physical form," Vegeta stated bluntly, "You are currently limping, and now there are three of us for you to face. There is no way for you to defeat us."

"We'll see about that!" she hissed, "I'll...I'll…"

Suddenly, Lapis emerged from the rubble, attempting to fly away. Gohan and Steven smiled, excited that their friend was alright, but those smiles faded as she was plucked out of the air by Jasper.

"No! Let her go!" Steven demanded. Goku had to hold him back.

"Lapis listen," Jasper said as she held onto the blue gem, "Fuse with me!"

"What?!" Lapis cried in surprise. Jasper dropped her.

"No Lapis, don't do it!" Gohan pleaded, "We're your friends!"

"They kept you trapped for thousands of years! They tried to kill you when you escaped, and just now they left you for dead when the ship went down," Jasper argued.

"Don't listen to her!" Steven shouted.

"She's just using you Lapis," Piccolo chimed in, "If you go with her, she's just going to treat you like a tool."

"Lapis, look at them," Jasper pointed, "They aren't even your kind. What good will allying yourself with them do compared to the entire gem empire. If you help me now, you might even fall back into the diamonds' favor."

She seemed to contemplate this for a second before she turned to Jasper and offered her hand to her. "No!" the boys cried in betrayal as they watched the pair dace. The Z fighters prepared themselves for battle, but when the giant monster formed, Lapis suddenly turned the tables and began dragging them both to the bottom of the ocean.

"Let's stay on this miserable planet together...forever!" Lapis cried through Malachite's voice as the disappeared below the surface.

The five aliens on the beach just stared on in shock. "Well…that was...dramatic…" Piccolo noted.

"Is it bad if I feel bad for the orange one?" Goku asked.

"Yes," Vegeta stated bluntly.

A few moments of silence passed. The only sound was the crashing of the waves and the crackle of the fire from the wreckage. "Sooo…." Goku spoke up, "Do you guys want to go after them or Peridot first?"

Suddenly Steven's phone rang. He picked it up to show Connie's phone number. "I think we're going to have to deal with that before anything else…" Piccolo commented.

….

A signal beeped on the screen of the space pod as it detected another explosion of power. Radditz frowned at it and thought. It wasn't as high as the astronomical one he had managed to clock in for a fraction of a second, but was long lasting enough to pinpoint the location of. As he tracked it back, his eyes grew wide as he recognized the solar system where it had come from: the same one where Prince Vegeta had disappeared all those years ago.

The odds were a million to one that he actually managed to survive...but a power level like that certainly gave him hope. "Let's see who you belong too…" Radditz muttered to himself as he set the coordinates and turned his pod off of standby mode. Even if it wasn't the prince, at least he might find a good challenge on that planet. The thrusters kicked in and the pod zipped through the void of space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the story! BTW I'd like to thank agenderenegade from tumblr who made this wonderful piece of fan art for me! http://agenderenegade.tumblr.com/post/140004900038/i-decided-it-was-a-good-idea-to-read-this-fanfic  
>  You have no idea how much I loved it, and it really made my day!


	20. Sudoku with Peridot

Peridot grumbled as she sat huddled up in the house, away from everyone else. The Z fighters had been “gracious” enough to let her stay in their home as they formulated a plan for the cluster. Despite their alliance she still didn’t trust them. The Vegeta Saiyan obviously had it out for her. Everytime he was around her, he watched her like a hawk, as if trying to catch her the moment she screwed up. The Namekian seemed indifferent to her, and she didn’t mind him as much. He wasn't quite as hostile but wasn’t friendly either. He seemed to have a strictly business opinion towards her, which she respected and reciprocated. She wouldn’t count on him not to abandon her when the going got tough, however.  
The Goku Saiyan was the one she trusted the least of all. There was something not right about him. The way he smiled all the time and was so cheery towards her. How he always was offering her nutrient rations and inviting her to watch demonstrations of the warriors’ training sessions. It was unnatural, particularly for someone of his species. Saiyans were supposed to be ruthless creatures, yet he claimed he didn’t like killing. As if! Next he’ll say that he’s never purged a planet! She knew deep down it all must be some kind of act. he was plotting something, trying to get her to let her guard down, but for what she didn’t know.  
The only one worse that him was his half human offspring: the Gohan. She still wasn’t sure how exactly the runt could be both part Saiyan and part human, but she didn’t think she wanted to find out. She knew for one thing that she didn’t like being around him. Whenever she was around him, the Namekian started acting more like the Vegeta, and the Goku, although not giving up his facade, would never be too far behind.  
That’s why when the boy crawled up to where she had hidden herself in Steven’s loft, sh had been less than happy to see him. “Hi Miss Peridot!” the five year old greeted, holding a book under his arm. “I’m sorry about what happened to your limb extensions. I got a little extra money today from delivering newspapers, so Steven suggested I get something for you. It’s really fun and I think you’ll like it.”  
Peridot got a sinking feeling at the word “fun.” From what she understood of Saiyans, their ideas of fun usually involved punching people or blowing things up...and from past experience, those things were usually hers. “Whatever it is, I don’t want it,” Peridot said firmly, looking away.  
Gohan pouted. “But you don’t even know what it is yet!” he argued.  
“If it ends up making me your personal chew toy, then no!” she snapped.  
“It’s not, I promise!” Gohan cried sincerely and with slight offence, “I’m just trying to be nice!”  
Peridot looked at him dead in the eye to see if he was lying. He looked like he was telling the truth...but if he really was the offspring of the Goku then it could just be a trick. “Hmm…” she muttered.  
“Peridot, accept the gift or you’ll be staying outside with Lion tonight,” Piccolo called from down stairs.  
Peridot flinched at that idea. The big pink animal was the last thing she wanted to be around. It wasn’t dangerous by any means...but the way it stared at her gave her shivers. “Alright…” she sighed.  
Gohan smiled and handed her the book that he had been holding under his arm and a pencil. “It’s a book of Sudoku puzzles,” he explained, “My mom always likes filling them out with me I when we get the Sunday paper...or rather when I bring it home…” “Here, let me show you how they work!” he said pulling out a pencil and flipping to a beginner puzzle, “There are nine big boxes with nine smaller boxes in each one. The goal is to fill out each box with the numbers one through nine without having any repeat in a row or column.” He stated filling one out to show her. “See, now you try!” he chirped, handing her the pencil.  
“Hmmm…” Peridot mused as she tapped the eraser against her chin as she stared at the page. Then she started filling out the puzzle box by box. In a matter of minutes she had the entire thing filled out perfectly.  
“Wow, you got that one done pretty fast,” he observed.  
“Well it was a pretty simple puzzle,” she said proudly, “No earth puzzle is a match for my mind.”  
“Well that was only a beginner level puzzle,” he explained, “Level five is the hardest. That was a level two. Level threes are more what I’m used to.”  
“Why are you so interested in this stuff?” she asked, “Aren’t Saiyans all about fighting and physical labor?”   
Gohan shrugged. “I guess it’s just the way I am,” he explained, “I like training with my Dad and the others, but it’s not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I really like science and my mom wants me to be a scholar one day. She has me study for an hour a day.”  
“Really?” Peridot questioned with intrigue, ”What areas are you proficient in?”  
“Well my mom is having my study look at basic physics right now, but I’m really hoping I’ll get to learn about biology soon,” he said, “It’s the study of organic things and how living things work.”  
“To be honest I might have to look into that too depending on how long I’m stuck here…” she muttered.  
An idea came to Gohan and his eyes lit up. “I know!” he said excitedly, “Maybe if my mom lets me switch over to it, I can bring my books here and we can study it together!”  
“Really?” she asked, “You’d be willing to share your information gathering materials with me?”  
“Sure!” he confirmed with a nod, “I’ve never had anyone to study with before, aside from my mom that is.” “I’ll ask her tomorrow and see what she says, ok?” he said.  
“Gohan!” Goku called, “We’re heading out for lunch at Fish Stew Pizza.”  
“Coming Daddy!” Gohan responded before heading for the ladder. He then turned to Peridot. “I’ll see you later, ok?” he said, “Enjoy the puzzles!” With that, he climbed down the the ladder and ran out the door.   
Peridot sat their for a second processing what had just happen. She then looked down at the book of puzzles in her her hand before cracking it open and starting on one. Maybe the Saiyan runt wasn't so bad after all...


	21. Aliens Among Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry guys....but this chapter is pretty much Rising tides/Crashing Skies. I know a lot of people don't like this episode, but I do, and I really enjoyed writing this. So if you don't like Ronaldo, or take him very seriously as a character, you might not like this chapter. Sorry!

A large teenager with curly blond adjusted the camera before sitting back down in his seat. “Hello people of the internet,” he recited, “As you know, I have been planning a very special project for a long time, and now it’s time for me to reveal the terrible truths I’ve uncovered.” He pulled up a title card reading “Aliens Among Us” with a crude drawing of three figures. One of them was green and the other two had spiky hair and monkey tails.  
“In our society, there are many secrets. From Big Government Glow Stick take overs, to skies all over the world randomly going dark,” Ronaldo continued, walking over to a screen and projector. “But the most dangerous of all, is that of,” he stated before turning on the projector, “the SNAIL PEOPLE!” He pointed at the screen to an image of Piccolo at the Big Donut buying a box for Steven and Gohan who stood at his feet. The slide changed again to another crude drawing of Piccolo. The anatomy was horribly incorrect with the upper body being too big for the legs to support, the eyes and pupils enlarged to comical proportions, and a single fang tooth sticking out from the caricature’s mouth being the most notable examples.   
“As you can see, the sail people, or sneeple, are characterized by their green skin, pointy ears, and antenna. Although they appear to have evolved passed having a shell, they still have heavy weights within their shoulders, most likely as a form of protection!” Ronaldo explained, pointing to the different poorly draw body parts.  
“While they may seem peaceful, their true purpose is much more sinister,” he said before changing the slide again to a picture of Piccolo carrying a heavy load of boxes from Greg’s storage unit with a superimposed stock photo of the earth over the boxes. “Total world domination!” Ronaldo stated darkly, before playing a dramatic sound effect.  
“They are quiet and reclusive creatures, keeping their operations secret from the masses,” he continued. The footage cut to another recording of Piccolo on the beach meditating.  
The camera turned to face Ronaldo. “Are you sure we should even be here? The sign on the fence said-,” the camera man whispered.  
“Relax, Peedee, We’ll be fine. I’ve got this entirely under cont-” he assured.  
“What are you two doing here?” a gruff voice interrupted. The two jumped and turned to see Piccolo standing in front of them with his arms folded. “I know both of you are school age, so you should know how to read, and the sign on the fence clearly states this is private property,” he said, “So you two better fess up or-”  
“It’s on to us!” Ronaldo cried before running, “Run PeeDee, run!”   
“Ronaldo wait!” PeeDee cried, dropping the camera. It aimed upwards at the Namekian and he glared at it before picking it up. The clip then cut to the camera sitting in a trash can as Piccolo walked back to the fence, wiping his hands.  
The footage then cut back to Ronaldo and the screen. “They have close ties with the corrupt local governments, allowing them to hid under everyone’s noses,” he accused.   
The footage cut again to Piccolo walking along the boardwalk with Gohan and Chichi and helping carry shopping bags. “No wait! My speech!” a voice called. A piece of paper fluttered in the air and Mayor Dewey chased after it, a large stack of more under his arms.  
The free page got caught on Piccolo’s shoulder weight, and as he stopped to pull it off, Mayor Dewey caught up to him huffing.   
“This yours?” the Namekian asked, showing him the piece of paper.  
“Oh thank you! You’re a lifesaver,” the Mayor graciously replied as he took the piece of paper from Piccolo, “Here have a glow stick!” Dewey handed him said glow stick and a vote for Dewey button.  
“You do realize I can’t vote right?,” the green alien called after him, “And even if I could, there’d be no point! No one ever runs against you!” However, the mayor was already gone. “Whatever…” he muttered as he turned and continued on his way, dropping the glow stick and button in a trash can as he passed it.  
The footage once again cut back to Ronaldo. “They’ve been here for decades, with papers telling stories of the attacks orchestrated by a ‘King Piccolo’,” Ronaldo said, projecting the image of an old newspaper clipping from the twenty second World’s Martial Arts tournament entitled ‘Attack on World’s Greatest Warriors’, “Although no one had seen him and he mysteriously disappeared after targeting several martial arts champions with his henchmen leaving calling cards behind, the survivors of said attacks described his henchmen as ‘green, otherworldly beings.’ Coincidence? I think not!”  
“I have determined they’re the ones behind the World Martial Arts Tournaments. What better way to find the world’s most powerful fighters and gather them into one place to eventually pick them off one by one,” he explained, before flipping to an image of a blond man with sunglasses and a microphone, “Also, why else would King Piccolo’s henchmen have left the official of the tournament alive as a witness to the attack? Or have the tournament just after the disappearance of King Piccolo be the last one for several years? Ladies and gentlemen, we have traitors in our midst.” The slide changed to another picture of the blond man, but with green antenna drawn on his forehead.  
“And it’s not just sneeple we have to worry about,” he announced, looking at the camera seriously, “The sneeple have allies: a group of extraterrestrial agents they’ve hired to do their bidding. That’s right. I’m talking about…” The slide changed to a picture of Steven, Vegeta and Goku sitting at an outdoor restaurant table. Goku was gorging himself on impossible amounts of food and Steven was enjoying his own meal, but Vegeta was hunched in his seat and holding his head in one hand, looking away from Goku in disgust. “THE MONKEY MEN!” he shouted.  
The slide changed again to a picture of the three Z fighters standing together talking. “As you can see, the ratio of monkey men to sneeple demonstrates their hierarchy, with a snerson ranking high above any single monkey man,” Ronaldo explained, tapping the image with his pointer, “However, what is not explained is the role of a monkey man. Are they designated as spies due to their more homo sapien appearance? Or are they simply foot soldiers? I attempted to find out.”  
The footage cut to Vegeta and Goku dislodging a piece of the hand ship wreckage from the side of a building when Ronaldo runs up to them. “Excuse me but can you explain your roles as underlings to the sneeple empire?” he bluntly asked.  
They both stopped and looked at him in utter confusion. Then the look of confusion on Vegeta’s face turned to rage as he stopped what he was doing, marched up to Ronaldo, and picked him up by his shirt. “What did you just call me?” he demanded.  
“Uh…” Ronaldo stuttered before being thrown through the wall of the next building over by the irate prince of Saiyans.  
“I am no one’s underling,” he growled before turning back to his work.  
The camera panned back over to Ronaldo as he crawled out of the hole in the wall. “Did you catch that?” he asked weakly, looking at the camera.   
The footage cut back to the room with the projector. “And to make matters worse, they’re multiplying!” Ronaldo exclaimed, playing a dramatic stock sound effect as he flipped to a slide with Steven and Connie sitting and eating ice cream with Goku, while Gohan sat on his lap, enjoying his own ridiculously large cone. A large red MSpaint circle with arrows had been drawn around the five year old half Saiyan, before the camera jump cut zoomed in, before replaying the stock dramatic sound several times. “You heard me right. Monkey men families have been assimilating into our culture, learning our ways so they know our weaknesses when they start the take over!” he explained, flipping to an image of Chichi, Goku and Gohan at Funland waiting in line for a ride. Several arrows on the image were pointing to Chichi with the words ‘monkey woman?’ written next to them.  
“They spend their every waking minute prepare for the invasion. For them, even everyday tasks are training exercises,” he continued. The video then cut to someone hiding in the bushes focusing the camera on a house. Gohan appeared running along the street huffing, a heavy bag of newspapers dragging behind him. When he reached the house, he reached up onto his toes and pressed the doorbell.  
A moment passed before Ronaldo suddenly jumped out of the bushes next to Gohan, armed with a potato and shouted “WHAT IS THE INVASION PLAN?!”   
Gohan screamed in surprise and slammed his fist into the heavy set teen’s stomach, sending him flying back into the bushes and onto his back. One foot stuck out of the foliage. Once Gohan had recovered from his surprise, a look of worry crossed his face. “Oh no! Mr. Ronaldo? Are you alright?” he cried. He poked the exposed foot and the owner groaned in pain. Gohan looked around awkwardly before slowly setting a newspaper at his foot and running away. “Sorry!” he shouted back as he continued with his routine.  
The footage cut to a cheap iMovie effect of question marks appearing and disappearing on the screen. “But the real question is not if the invasion is happening, but when,” the teen’s voice called cryptically over the effect, “and the answer is NOW!” The word ‘NOW’ appeared in big bold letters before the footage cut to a blurry iPhone recording of the sky. A green hand ship was coming down from above. “A few weeks ago, this green ship appeared out of the sky,” Ronaldo’s voice spoke over the footage, “Most Likely reinforcements for the sneeple by the color, but the biggest fact that they were behind it, was that a few days before the ship arrived, the local monkey men and the snerson had disappeared.” The dramatic sound bite played again.  
The footage cut to Kiki working at Fish Stew Pizza. “So, did you see where those three aliens that hang around Steven were during the invasion?” Ronaldo asked from behind the camera.  
“Nope,” she responded, not looking up from folding pizza boxes, “I hadn’t seen them at all that week. But Steven did come in with a few other strange guys. Said they were looking after him for a few days.”  
“AhHA! I knew it!” Ronaldo cheered, starling Kiki before the footage flipped to an image of Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin. “All would have been lost for us...if it had not been for these three brave warriors,” he narrated, “They stayed behind to face the sneeple menace and defeated them. But how long until-”  
Before another word could come out from the speaker, Vegeta pressed the stop button on the video. The Saiyan burst out laughing, almost falling over. “Alright, Tien I’ll believe. But Yamcha and Krillin? Stopping an invading army?! What is this kid on?!” he wheezed between laughter. Piccolo, Steven, Goku, and Gohan all looked at him in confusion.  
“Hey, Krillin and Yamcha are great fighters,” Goku defended, “Don’t make fun of them…even if you are kind of right…”  
“I didn’t think you’d find this that funny, Vegeta,” Steven observed as he closed the laptop, “If anything I was worried you’d be mad.”  
“Oh, I’m furious!” Vegeta said, wiping the tears from his eyes, “Absolutely livid! Next time I see the curly haired freak, I’m beating the crap out of him for calling me a monkey AND a lowly foot soldier. But dear Kami that was hilarious! I can’t even count everything he got wrong! Sneeple?! Are you serious?!” “And honestly, I could replay the clip of your kid knocking the wind out of him all day, Kakarot,” he continued.  
“I still kinda feel bad for hurting him like that…” Gohan muttered.  
“Aren't you worried if someone sees this?” Goku asked, “Couldn't this get us into serious trouble.”  
“Don’t be stupid, Kakarot,” Vegeta waved him off as he walked towards the temple, “The kid’s a nut. No one will believe him. And if you’re really so worried, we can just have Bulma hack his account and delete it.”  
“Well, ok then,” Goku said brightening up. He then turned to look at his son in his lap, “How about we go get some ice cream. I’m sure you mom would like us to bring her back a strawberry sundae.”  
“Yeah!” Gohan cheered as his dad set him up on his shoulders.  
“Wait for me guys!” Steven shouted as they walked out the door.  
“Steven, wait,” Piccolo spoke up. The half gem turned towards him. “Just...Stay away from that kid for a while,” he said.  
“Why?” Steven asked, “He doesn't mean any harm…”  
“Look, just trust me on this,” he stated, “Just keep Gohan and yourself at a distance from him until he cools down about this...sneeple...thing…”  
“...Ok,” Steven said, “See you later!” With that, the door closed and Piccolo was alone in the house. He sighed as he got up and watched from the window as Steven ran across the beach to catch up to the Saiyans.   
‘He may not mean any harm…’ Piccolo thought, ‘But that sure as heck doesn't mean he isn’t capable of causing it. Especially when he thinks he’s in the right like this.’


	22. Motherly Tea Time

Priyanka walked up to the door of the son household. She was a bit nervous. It had been a long time since she had spoken with Goku’s wife Chichi, heck she hadn’t even seen her in person since they first met, but after the events at the hospital with those...things… She felt she needed to talk to someone. She had originally gone to Greg, but he had been busy when she had called. It was then that she had remembered that she had Chichi’s number. When she called her up, the woman seemed surprised by the call but also ecstatic. “It’s funny, but there are so many men in my life, that it’s rare that I get to spend time with or even talk to another woman,” she explained. She then invited her over for the first day Priyanka had been available for some tea.  
No sooner had she knocked on the door, then did Chichi open the door with a tired yet bright smile. Her bun was a bit of a mess and the apron she was wearing had obviously been put to good use, but otherwise, she looked fine. “Priyanka! I’m so glad you were able to come!” she greeted, holding the door open, “Come in! Come in!”  
Priyanka stepped through the threshold of the cottage. It was somewhat small but quaint. The furniture seemed a little out of place, as it was very ornate and looked almost antique. Why they were so out of place, was because there seemed to be a few spots of disrepair in the rest of the house. A door knob was missing from a closet door that had a dent in the wood, a place on the wall where it seemed a lamp should have been hanging from there were only wires poking out, and there were a few spots where it was obvious the drywall had been replaced multiple times. “Sorry about the mess,” she explained, “My boys can be a bit clumsy and don’t always realise how strong they are. Goku is especially like this after he’s had a rigorous training session. I love him, but sometimes he’s like a Great Dane that thinks he’s a lap dog.”  
Dr. Maheswaran nodded as her attention drifted elsewhere. She could smell something cooking. It was warm and very comforting. As she entered the kitchen, she noticed the many pots and pans on the stove filled with different dishes currently simmering. On the counters there were several assortments of different trays filled with fully cooked dishes. One even had a roasted turkey!  
“What’s all this for? Are you having a family reunion or a get together later this evening?” she asked as she looked over the different plates. There was more than enough to feed fifteen people.   
Chichi looked at her in confusion before realization struck her and she chuckled. “Oh no! This is just lunch,” she explained, “Goku and Gohan will be home later so I had to make sure there was enough for both of them. Hopefully there will be enough leftover that I won’t have to cook as much later this evening.”  
Priyanka gaped at her in astonishment. “You’re kidding me, right?!” she sputtered. Chichi shook her head no. “How is that even possible?! There’s no way that they could eat that much and live!” she cried.   
Chichi sighed as she grabbed the kettle and brought it to the dining table with a set of cups. “Believe me, I’ve repeated those same words more times than I can count in the many years I’ve known Goku, and I’ve never found the answer,” she said, sitting down, “I think it’s a Saiyan thing, because I’ve seen Vegeta eat just as much, but the real shocker is that this isn’t even the most he’s ever eaten. Bulma still claims that he ate 57 full course meals after his first martial arts tournament. He spent almost all of the prize money on it!”  
Priyanka’s eyebrows shot to her hairline. “I think I’m going to be sick just thinking about what that must have looked like!” she muttered. Chichi hummed in amusement as she poured Dr. Maheswaran her tea.  
“Enough about my husband though,” she said as she poured her own cup and sat down, “If you wanted to gossip about our spouses, you wouldn’t have come over.”  
“Maybe not. The phone bill would have been gigantic...” Priyanka said with a snort of amusement, “But you’re right. I have something much more serious to talk about: my daughter.” Chichi nodded and sat up, looking at her attentively. “I know she’s a smart kid and she can handle herself,” she explained, “And I’m sure your husband and his friends are more than capable of protecting the kids, but that doesn't stop me from worrying! All of those monsters, the martial arts, and the sword fighting...did you know she had a sword?”   
“Goku had said he had been taking her to visit his friend Yajirobe for lessons…” Chichi admitted sheepishly.  
“You mean she’s not even being taught by someone I know?!” she gasped, “I thought it was one of Steven’s guardians teaching her! Who the heck is Yajirobe?!”  
“Don’t worry!” Chichi assured, “He’s a close friend of Goku and lives with one of his old Senseis, Korrin, a person who won’t even train you if he doesn't deem you worthy.”  
Priyanka breathed out and sat back down. “I’m alright now…” she assured, “but I guess that brings me to my next thought: it scares me how much she doesn't tell me. She didn’t tell me that she was learning sword fighting from a strange man or that she was fighting monsters with Steven’s guardians! And if she wouldn't tell me that, then what else isn’t she telling me? She could be learning to fire lasers from her hands for all I know!” Chichi bit her lip at that. “You’re kidding…” the doctor lamented.  
“No, it’s not that,” Chichi said, “To be honest, I have no idea if they’ve even attempted to teach her anything about ki or how to control it. The thing is, I have the exact opposite problem. Sometimes I wish I didn’t know about all the mess up things in my son and my husband’s lives, or rather, I wished they didn’t exist.”  
“I love my husband so very dearly and wouldn’t change who he is for anything, but sometimes I wish he wasn't an alien...that he was just a human who happened to be born with a tail,” she explained, “Because if he were human, even if he still had all his crazy powers, things would be so much less complicated...or at least complicated in a way I could handle.” “When he was sent to Earth as a kid, he was sent to attack the planet, and he might have if he hadn’t lost his memory when he was young. I know I shouldn't dwell on it, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder what sort of person he would have been like if he hadn’t,” she said frowning, “but beyond that, there’s so many things I have to worry about with Gohan. I had no idea if I was feeding him enough as a baby, and I still don’t know if he’s getting the right nutrition to this day. I have to be careful of everything I do with him. I even have to keep a calendar of when he can go outside in the evening because of his heritage!” When Priyanka raised an eyebrow at that statement ChiChi gave her a look that said “don’t ask.” “And with all the nasty fights Goku has gotten and gets into, I was just as petrified as you of letting Gohan train with his father. There are days where Goku comes home with all manner of injuries, and although I know he has a way of healing up fast, I never want to see Gohan like that. I want him to grow up to be a scholar instead, but I don’t think that’s going to happen…”  
Dr. Maheswaran grinned slightly. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from these past few days, it’s that you can’t control your children,” she said as she sipped her tea. Chichi gave a dry laugh.  
“But, you know what? You’re the lucky one out of the two of us,” Chichi explained, “Because I know for a fact that things are going to turn out alright for Connie.”  
Connie's mother frowned in confusion at her statement. “And how do you know that?” she asked.  
“Well besides the fact she has some of the strongest fighters in the world willing to risk life and limb for her, I know because she’s a lot like how I was when I was young...though a lot less boy crazy, mind you!” Chichi explained, chuckling slightly at her last statement. “She’s strong, passionate, determined, and intelligent. The only thing she’s missing is my temper, but be glad she doesn't have that,” she continued with a smile, “and I remember meeting a strange, magical little boy when I was a young girl and being whisked away on adventures with him too, and well…” Chichi looked down at the simple gold wedding ring on her finger. “He changed my life and made me happier than I could ever express,” she finished, looking up again.   
Priyanka stared at her blankly before smiling back at her. “Thank you, Chichi,” she quipped holding up her cup and looking down into it, “I think I really needed to hear that.” “I just hope I won’t be planning a wedding for the two of them any time soon,” she joked, “As nice of a kid Steven is, I don’t think I’d approve of Connie dating him yet, let alone that.”   
Chichi giggled as she took a sip from her own cup. “Then be glad she isn’t as boy crazy as I was,” she chuckled, “or you might just have to worry about that. I was completely delusional as kid!”  
“I’m getting the feeling there’s an interesting story behind that,” Priyanka said with a playful smirk.  
“Oh you have NO idea!” Chichi stated as she began her tale. Dr. Maheswaran smiled as she listened. The two women talked for over an hour after that, sharing stories until Goku and Gohan came home for lunch.


	23. Accident

It had been an accident. A completed total accident. Infact, they weren’t even sure how it had happened. They were just goofing around. Steven had been showing Connie a new set of martial arts movements, then she was mirroring him and there was this glowing...before they knew it...it happened. They wobbled as they stood up, twice their usual size. “S-Steven? What happened? What are we?!” Connie said in their voice, “Was this supposed to happen?”  
“Yes? No? I don't know! This has never happened before!” Steven replied, “Connie, I’m scared!”  
“Me too! I don’t know what this is or what to do…” she trailed off.  
The knelt down in the sand gripping their arms, looking as if they would cry, before their face suddenly brightened. “I know what we have to do!” Steven whispered.  
….  
They burst through the door to the house. “Guys! We need your help!” they cried.  
The three of them looked at the strange woman in front of them in confusion. “Uhhh...do we know you?” Goku asked.  
“Wait a minute...She has Steven’s gem!” Vegeta pointed out. The three changed expressions from confusion to alarm. Vegeta gripped them by the shirt and dragged them down to eye level. “Who are you? What have you done with Steven?” he threatened.  
“Mr. Vegeta! It’s us--er me! Steven--Connie!” the fusion cried.  
Vegeta’s eyes widened again and he let go of them and backed off. “What?” he asked.  
“We were messing around on the beach and then there was this light and now look at us!” they said stretching their arms out.   
The three stared at them with mouths agape. “They did it...they actually did it…” Piccolo breathed.   
“What? What did we do?! Guys?” the fusion nervously questioned.  
“But how?!” Vegeta shot back at the Namekian, “Organic life can’t fuse!”  
“My species can,” Piccolo countered.  
“Yes but you’re a bunch of asexually reproductive slug people who can make magic, wish granting dragons! it’s not the same!” Vegeta countered, “besides, your definition of fusion is very different!...I think...”  
“Who cares how it works!” Goku cried, jumping off the counter, “This is amazing!” He walked over to the fusion with bright, excited eyes and pulled them into a bear hug. “I’m so proud of you, Steven! Connie! Connieven? I know! Stevonnie!” he exclaimed.  
Now the pair were just confused. “You’re...proud?” they asked, “Wait, did you expect this to happen?”  
“Not in the slightest,” Vegeta explained, “We didn’t even know it was possible.”  
“But we’re not unfamiliar with the concept,” Piccolo continued, “What you’re experiencing right now is called fusion. When gems are in sync, they can fuse into one larger, stronger being.”  
“Rose told us all about all the crazy fusions from her time like Mega Ruby, Rainbow Quartz, Garnet...,” Goku recounted on his fingers, “But this is the first time we, or at least Piccolo and I, have ever seen a gem fusion. We thought it was impossible for gems and humans to fuse, but look at you guys!”  
“Is it permanent?” they asked, rubbing their arm.   
“It shouldn’t be,” Vegeta assured, “Gem fusions only last as long as the gems are in sync.”  
“Yeah, you guys should be fine!” Goku added, “Hey maybe that means Steven can fuse with us! That would be so cool! I wanna try first!...If that’s ok with you Steven.”  
Vegeta smacked him on the back of the head. “This isn’t a toy, Kakarot,” he snapped, “We don’t know what kind of repercussions this could have.”  
“Ow!” Goku complained, “I know it’s not a toy, but it’s still cool!”  
“R-repercussions?” Stevonnie repeated, getting scared.  
Piccolo glared at the two arguing Saiyans before sighing and walking up to the fusion. “Stevonnie, calm down,” he said, placing his hands on their shoulders, “There will most likely not be any repercussions, and if there are, we still might be able to figure out a way to fix them. Either way, Vegeta, Goku, and I should go visit Kami to figure this out a little more. He knows more about gems than any of us. In the meantime, you need to stay here and stay calm, alright?”  
Stevonnie nodded after a brief pause. “Good,” he said, taking his hands off their shoulders. He then walked over to the two Saiyans and gripped them roughly by the back of their uniforms before shoving them towards the door. “We’ll be back soon,” he said before they left. Thankfully, Kami’s help was needed in the end to separate them, just an egotistical dancer at a rave.


	24. Dinner Distruction

Steven and Connie had panicked at first about what to do for the dinner. Her parents expected Steven's mother to be there. They could try dressing up one of the Z fighters as a woman, but even if they agreed there would be some issues: Piccolo doesn't eat, Goku eats too much, and Vegeta…well he wasn't exactly a people person. Thankfully, their hides were saved when Steven had a stroke of genius. "Chichi can pretend to be my mom!" he explained, "She's nice and she helped take care of me when I was little so she's kind of like my mom!"

And so the plan was set in motion. Chichi agreed to pretend to be his mother, though she warned them they couldn't keep it up forever. They hadn't told the Z fighters about the dinner, but they were busy looking for a monster that had swum out to sea, so they would be gone for a while.

After finding a babysitter for Gohan, they headed off to dinner. Everything had been going fine. The Maheswarans seemed to really like Chichi, especially Connie's mother. However it didn't last long.

"I can't help but think I've seen you somewhere before…" Mr. Maheswaran said rubbing his chin as he looked at Chichi, "Wait, were you the female fighter at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament?"

Steven looked nervous, not sure how to respond, but Chichi simply smiled. "Why yes, actually," she said, "That's where I met my husband. He was a fan in the crowd."

"I thought I recognized you! You were Ms. Anonymous!" he said, "I watched the fights on TV at the time. You were amazing! Too bad they didn't have another world tournament for a while after that." Steven breathed a sigh of relief. "So, do you still compete?" he asked.

However, before Chichi could respond, there was a loud roar as something reared up out of the ocean. They all turned to look in surprised as a giant blue octopus with the face of a shark emerged from the depths. To Steven and Connie's horror, there were three humanoid figures buzzing around it.

"What on Earth?!" Priyanka cried. Suddenly the octopus creature slapped one of the figures out of the air, sending it hurtling towards the restaurant. Vegeta slammed into the wall behind them, creating a giant hole in the wall. Chichi sighed as Dr. Maheswaran ran to help the fallen Saiyan. "Oh my goodness! Sir, are you alright? Here, let me check you for a concussion…" she said as she looked him over for injuries.

"Get off me, woman!" Vegeta growled, swatting her hands away as he got up. He dusted himself up and looked up in surprise as he saw Chichi and Greg. "What the? Chichi what are you-" he started but stopped when he saw Chichi gave him a warning glance before jerking her head in Connie's direction who gave him a pleading look and shook her head. "Whatever…" he growled.

"Wait a minute...You're the man from the phone! Steven's Uncle!" Priyanka realised.

"And you must be the woman from the other end. I think my ears are still ringing from your screeching," he he remarked.

Chichi facepalmed as the doctor's eyes widened. "What did you just say to me?!" she cried in offence.

He didn't respond however. He simply took off towards the giant monster. The three figures started firing ki blasts at it. It screeched in pain and tried to bat them out of the air again until Goku fired a kamehameha wave at it, causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke.

Connie's parents looked on a mix of awe and fear. Greg and Chichi shared a look of resignation and sighed. Connie and Steven, who usually watched such an event with excitement, looked on in horror as the felt their facade slowly fall apart.

"Did he just...did they just…?" Doug breathed as he stared at where the monster had been.

Connie buried her head in her hands. "That's it...We're doomed…" she muttered.

"Hey...it could be worse," Steven tried to assure.

"How?!" Connie snapped.

"Chichi!" a voice called. They all looked up to see Goku flying towards them.

"Oh no…" Chichi sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Hey, Honey!" he said as he landed, "Whatcha doing out here?"

"Honey?!" Connie's parents shouted simultaneously. The two children took this opportunity to back away. At the couple's outburst, Goku looked up. "Oh, you must be Connie's parents!" he said cheerfully, " It's nice to meet you. I'm Son Goku and this is my wife Chichi!" He extended out his hand to them as he put his other arm around his annoyed looking wife.

Connie's parents' eyes widened. "What?!" Dr. Maheswaran cried, "But she can't be! She's Steven's mother!"

Goku looked at them like they had grown second heads as the other Z fighters landed near by. "Ok, did I miss something? Who are these guys and why are they talking about Steven's mom?" Piccolo asked.

"They think Chichi is Steven's mom!" Goku explained like the idea was insane. The Namekian shared a confused look with Goku and Vegeta stepped forward.

"Well, there's no salvaging this lie so you might as well fess up," he said, "Your daughter lied in saying that Steven had a mom. Truth is, his mom died when he was born and he's been looked after by his father, the woman who was pretending to be his mother, and the three of us for the past thirteen years or so."

"What?!" Connie's mother cried in anger, "Connie, why would you-" However, her daughter was gone from her side. The adults all looked around to see that Steven was missing too.

"What the-Where'd he go?" Piccolo questioned.

"Connie? Connie! Connie where are you?" her mother called, worry clear in her voice.

"There!" Goku said pointing to the bus on the hill, about to depart, "They just got on. I can sense them!"

"I can't believe him!" Vegeta growled, "Running away from responsibility like this! Do they have any idea what they're getting into?"

"We're too late…" Doug lamented.

"No we're not," Piccolo said, "Give us a minute. We'll be right back." Before Connie's parents could respond, the three had taken off in the direction of the bus, stopped it, and carried it, the children and the frightened bus driver back to the restaurant.

…

"You are in big trouble, boy! I can't even begin to express how disappointed I am," Vegeta scolded as he glared down at Steven, "What have I always told you?"

"Running away from your problems is for cowards and fools," Steven recited guiltily, not looking up.

"Not only that, but running away at your age is extremely dangerous," Goku chimed in.

"He's right. Steven, what you two were trying to do was exceedingly stupid and reckless. What exactly were you thinking you would do once you got off that bus? Survive of the land? You've lived off of air conditioning and instant meals all your life! How did you think that would work?" Piccolo questioned, "Even if you could, there are a million things out there that could happen to you! You could have been mugged!"

"Or attacked by wild animals!" Goku added.

"Or kidnapped and forced to work for some criminal!" Vegeta finished.

The boy looked down in shame. "I'm sorry…" he muttered.

"Don't worry, we forgive you Steven," Goku assured.

"but that doesn't mean we aren't going to punish you," Vegeta cut in, "If you want to be on the run so bad, then go ahead. You'll be doing twenty laps a day down the beach from Fun Land back to the temple every day for the next five months!"

"What?! NO!" Steven cried.

"Or…" Piccolo interjected, "You can just go without TV for that time instead."

Steven pouted. "You guys are evil!" he muttered.

"Kid, I haven't been evil in over twenty years," Vegeta stated, "If I were still evil, you would know."

"It's just because we care about you, Steven," Greg said, placing a hand on his son's shoulder and Chichi nodded.

"Wow," the five adults turned to see Dr. Maheswaran smiling at them, "That was a masterful use of the 'because we care' shut down. I'm quite partial to 'It's for your own good!' myself.

"And that 'I haven't been evil in twenty years' bit was pretty funny!" Doug said, approaching Vegeta, chuckling lightly.

Vegeta stared at him stoically for a moment before looking away. "Yes…" he said, "It was a very funny joke..." Doug laughed nervously.

"To be honest, I didn't know what to make of the five of you," Priyanka commented, gesturing to the three warriors, Greg, and Chichi, "But I see that you are very responsible parents...caregivers? guardians?"

"We prefer the term 'mentors'," Piccolo stated with a shrug.

"Aw, thanks!" Goku chirped, rubbing back of his head, "We try."

"So I can still hang out with Steven?" Connie asked excitedly. Her mother nodded and the two children embraced.

Goku then leaned in towards Vegeta. "So, are we still going to teach her how to fight, or do we have to ask permission now?" he whispered.

Vegeta smirked. "I already told her mother, so I don't see any reason to ask," he replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished this arch! it only took me...what? 22 chapters? sorry about that. Still I hoped you enjoyed it!


	25. The Fall and Rise of Piccolo

“Your wish has been granted,” the dragon bellowed as his eyes glowed red.  
King Piccolo laughed as he felt the weight of his age dissipate. His skin became smooth, his muscles returned to their much more well toned state, and the slight hunch he had been developing dissipated.  
Tein watched in despair from his paralysed state on the ground. Their plan had failed. Master Roshi was dead and now so was his dear friend Chiaotzu thanks to this mad man. “I will take my leave now,” Shenron continued.  
“Yes, go back to your rest…” King Piccolo sneered, “Forever!” A powerful ki blast started to form in his hand.   
“NO!” Tien cried. He closed his eyes. He couldn’t watch what was about to happen.  
King Piccolo fired his attack at the eternal dragon, intending to blow the reptile to bits...luckily that didn’t happen. A pink blur flew in front of the dragon, and a loud clang resounded as the energy beam hit it. This gave the dragon time to dissipate and scatter the dragon balls once more. Tien opened his eyes to see a large pink shield where the dragon had been.   
A look of confusion crossed his face, while King Piccolo’s held fear and shock. “No...It can’t be!” he shouted as the shield dissipated, “That symbol! It’s….”  
“King Piccolo!” a feminine voice called. The Namekian turned and Tien adjusted himself to look up and see Goku, a teenager with a tail, and a woman with pink hair brandishing a sword in the center of the trio as they all stood on one of the white pillars in the feild. She seemed so familiar...where had he seen her before? “I don’t know how you came back, but I demand that you stand down now. You’ve caused enough harm,” she stated firmly.  
“Rose Quartz,” the king growled, “What a displeasure to see you. And how quaint! You have a pair of little ducklings chasing after you! Take them back to their nest before I slaughter them along with you!” Suddenly Tien remembered her. She had been cheering for Goku at the tournament and tending to his wounds afterwards. What was she doing here now? And how did she know King Piccolo?  
“I’m not going to leave Piccolo. I won’t let your hurt these people or this planet any longer,” she stated firmly, “I will give you a choice however. I will allow you to live if you chose to live here peacefully, or leave this planet.”  
King Piccolo chuckled. “You don’t have the guts to kill me,” he snarled, “You couldn’t do it before, and you won’t do it now.”  
Rose’s eyes narrowed. “Try me,” she hissed as she jumped down from the platform she had been standing on. Goku and Vegeta followed her. The trio faced off against the Namekian. His eyes moved back and forth between them.  
“Three against one hardly seems fair,” he said, “How about we even the odds a little?” King Piccolo then coughed up a pair of eggs from which two large, green monsters hatched. “Drum! Timpani! Take care of the brats,” he ordered, “I’ll deal with the gem myself.”   
The two monsters charged after Goku and Vegeta, passing Rose as they did so. She rushed towards the Namekian. She slashed her sword at him, though he seemed to disappear into thin air as she did so. before she could do anything else, he kicked her in the back sending her tumbling backwards. He then began firing ki blasts at her, laughing maniacally. A few hit her before she rolled out of the way and summoned her shield. She charged forward sword aimed to impale him. Her shield brushed off every attack that came his way.  
King Piccolo began to get frustrated as she brushed off each attack. Suddenly, an idea came to him. “Heh… try to block this!” He began to charge two powerful beams, one in each palm. They weren’t aimed at Rose however. She followed their line of fire and gasped to see they were aimed at Goku and Vegeta. As they fired, Rose acted quickly. She threw her shield in front of Vegeta and lunged for Goku. She grabbed the fifteen year old and formed a bubble around them. The energy blast deflected off the bubble and hit Drum, Goku’s opponent.  
“Woah…that was close,” Goku muttered. Rose nodded as she looked for Vegeta. He had gotten knocked down by his opponent who took advantage of his surprised, but had quickly gotten back up and now had the monster on the ropes. She smiled as relief filled her chest.  
As she dropped the bubble, she could hear King Piccolo cry out in rage and anguish. “Look what you’ve done!!” he shrieked, “You’ll pay for that!” He flew up in the air and began firing ki blasts rapidly.   
Rose summoned another shield. There was no way she could defeat him from the ground. She looked around for an opening and noticed Tien was in the line of fire. She created a second shield for herself and handed the other to Goku. “Here. Now go get your friend to safety,” she said.   
“Need me to help you after that?” Goku asked as he grabbed the pink shield.   
“For now, no, but I’ll let you know if I do,” she said. He nodded before running off towards Tien. Another energy blast came hurtling towards Rose. She jumped up and out of the way, landing on a nearby pillar. She noticed a line of them of varying sizes. One of them that was close to him was tall enough that she would have one clear shot at him. If she took it, she would have to kill him.  
“Kami,” she called to her friend telepathically, “I’m sorry but I only have one chance to defeat Piccolo...and I think you know what that entails.”  
“Do what you must,” he replied, “I have accepted my fate. So long as my evil half goes down with me and the earth is safe, then I welcome death.”  
Roses gaze became steely and determined as she nodded. “Goodbye my old friend,” she thought, “It has been a pleasure to know you.”  
she could hear him chuckle. “As it was to know you, Rose,” he replied, “Now go and finish him. Grant an old man his dying wish and fix the worst mistake I ever made.”  
She smirked as she began jumping from pillar to pillar. “Don’t call yourself old, I still have a few thousand years on you!” she teased.  
“At least you don’t look it,” he retorted as she reached the last pillar.  
Her smile faded. He would see her coming. “Goku! Vegeta!” she called to them mentally. The two Saiyans turned in attention, Vegeta having finished off his opponent. Although they couldn’t respond, she knew they were paying attention. “I need you two to create a distraction for me,” she told them telepathically. They nodded in understanding before sending a barrage of ki energy Piccolo’s way, purposefully barely missing him.   
“Bahahaha! Is that the best you got?” he taunted.  
“No,” a voice from behind him said, “This is.” King Piccolo turned just in time to watch himself be sliced in half. His lower body went limp and fell to the ground first, Rose following it. His upper half hung in the air for a moment, clinging to life.  
“This...isn’t over!” he hissed. He started coughing up another egg, but this one was different from the rest. Inside it held a true Namekian, not just another green beast. The embryo held the essence of his parent: his powers, his likeness, almost everything. He spat the egg out, sending it flying across the sky before falling to the ground, dead.  
Although Goku cheered with Tien at the tyrant’s defeat, Rose saw what had happened. “Kami, are you still there?” she asked.  
“Yes I am...I assume your plan failed,” he thought back to her.  
“Yes and no,” she explained, “King Piccolo is dead, but he created another egg. Part of him has survived.”  
“Then you know what you must do,” he said, “Track it down and stop whatever this is before it hurts anyone.”  
She nodded solemnly before turning to Goku and Vegeta. “Come on you two,” she said, “Grab Tien and the bodies. Let’s get them back to the temple and call your friends to pick them up. Then we need to get ready for another mission. our job isn’t finished yet.” They nodded and picked up their comrades before following the gem.  
….  
Once the others had been taken care of, they headed off in the direction of where the egg had been sent. They found themselves traveling through thick jungle brush in search of the egg. Vegeta and Goku had split up to cover more ground. Rose cut through the thick foliage with her sword, though only when absolutely necessary, to make a path for herself. They had been searching for hours when Goku called for her.  
“Rose!” he shouted as pushed through the brush, “Come quickly! I think I found it!” She let the boy lead the way until they came to a clearing. In the center was a cracked open egg shell.  
“Oh no, we’re too late!” she muttered.  
“No we’re not! It’s still there!” Goku explained. Rose looked confused until she peered inside the egg. Her eyes widened as she saw a tiny green form curled up. Her grip on her sword loosened slightly as she stared at the tiny creature.  
“Oh good you found it,” Vegeta said jumping down from the trees. “Now we can fix this mess once and for all,” he said smiling.  
Rose wasn’t smiling however. She didn’t move a single muscle. She simply stared down at the creature. It’s eyes hadn’t even opened yet. As she continued to watch it, she could see it shiver slightly in the cold air. It was completely defenceless.  
“Rose?” Vegeta asked, noticing her hesitation, “What are you waiting for? Let’s get rid of the little monster.”  
“No” she stated firmly as she sheathed her sword. The Saiyan prince looked at her in surprise as she reached out and picked up the infant. “He’s an innocent creature. I won’t hurt him,” she explained.  
“What?” Vegeta questioned, “Rose, this thing has the potential to kill everyone on Earth! We should get rid of it now before it gets strong enough to cause real damage.”  
“Rose, think about what you’re doing,” Kami mentally called to her, “This child could spell the death of all mankind one day!”  
“So did Goku, yet we’re all still here,” she retorted to both of them.  
Vegeta fell silent. “I agree,” Goku piped up, “He’s just a baby after all! He hasn’t hurt anyone.”  
“Yes, but it has King Piccolo’s essence!” Vegeta argued.  
“But he’s not King Piccolo,” Rose stated, “I can sense it. There’s something different about this one.” “One’s origins do not define what kind of a person they will become. If that were the case, then you, Goku, and even I would never have come together or be protecting the earth like we are,” she explained as she looked down at the infant. His eyes lazily opened for moment before closing again. “and I’m not going to let you die if I don’t have too,” she telepathically messaged Kami.  
Vegeta folded his arm over his chest. “Fine,” he agreed begrudgingly, “I trust you Rose, but if the gremlin turns on us, I get to kill him.”  
“Very well, Vegeta,” she stated with a sigh, shifting the infant into one arm, “Now let’s go home.” She turned and began walking back to the warp pad, the two Saiyans following after her.  
“Are you sure about this?” Kami asked her.   
Rose smiled and mentally chuckled. “Have a little more faith in me, old friend,” she responded, “When have I been wrong about these things before?”  
“I trust you more than anyone,” Kami stated, “I just don’t trust him.”  
“Well, good thing you don’t have to, then,” she said, “That’s my job.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the backstory trifecta is complete. sorta. I'll probably go back and elaborate more with Goku and Piccolo. Still I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to leave suggestions and let me know what you think!


	26. Vidalia's Monkey

Vegeta reclined on the beach, the sun shining down. He had just gotten done with a rather rigorous training session with Rose, well for her anyways. Her training was more mentally exhausting than physically.The shore was lapping about a foot away from his tail. It had been a six months since the Oozaru incident and his tail had finally grown back. He was still getting used to the idea of living peacefully on earth. Aside from training with Rose and hunting with Kakarot, the planet was actually pretty dull. He hoped he wouldn’t be staying here much longer than a year. Still, the down time was not unappreciated. Working under Frieza didn’t give much spare time. Now, the prince had plenty of time to do whatever he wanted, and for now that meant taking a nap…  
“Hey...guy with a tail. Are you alive? Hello!” Vegeta awoke to a feminine voice and the sensation of someone poking his face. He growled and opened his eyes to see a pale girl with dull blonde hair staring down at him apathetically. She had messy clothing with paint splatters on them. The knees on her jeans were ripped. As she stared down at him, she was chewing gum. She blew a bubble and loudly popped it in his face.   
Vegeta pushed her head away from him as he got up. “Go away, this is private property,” he snapped, “Can’t you read the sign?”  
“Yeah and it said I’d be escorted off the property. That actually sounded kind of fun,” she explained.  
Vegeta blinked in confusion before frowning. Rose must have changed his sign. “Fine,” he huffed as he got up and started tugging her along by the arm, “But once you’re gone, you better stay gone, alright?”  
The girl shrugged. “Eh, if I feel like it,” she said with a shrug. Vegeta glared at her. “Man I thought this escorting thing would be more like in the movies where they have their arms linked or something, not being dragged around like you’re my mom. You suck at escorting,” she said.  
“Well, sorry. I’m a fighter, not a butler,” he said rolling his eyes.  
“Fighter, huh? Does that me you have a cool stage name like ‘El Diablo?’” she asked. Vegeta didn’t respond. The girl frowned at him ignoring him before smirking. “Oh I know! How about ‘the Grumpy Monkey’. Yeah, I think I’ll call you that from now on,” she continued.  
Vegeta growled and turned to her. “If you value your life, you will refrain from calling me that!” he hissed, giving her his best murderous glare.  
The girl wasn’t fazed, and just pouted in annoyance. “Oh fine…” she grumbled, “But I gotta call you something. Come on! I won’t stop bugging you until you do.”  
Vegeta sighed. “My name is Vegeta,” he stated, “I am the prince of Saiyans.”  
“Well I’m Vidalia,” she responded, “I am the princess of being a royal pain, at least that’s what my teachers tell me.”  
Vegeta had to stop himself from smirking at her statement. There was no way he was going to allow himself to like this human in anyway. She was disrespectful, rude, and annoying. However, despite how hard he tried to suppress it, his lips still twitched in amusement, and she definitely caught it.  
“Was that a smile?” she said, smirking on her own.  
“Shut up,” he said glaring at her. He then stopped dragging her along. “We’re here,” he said. They stood in front of the black chain link fence.  
“Aw, just when we were starting to get to know each other,” she mock whined.  
“Yes, such a tragedy,” he said sarcastically, “Now get over the damn fence.”  
“Ugh…” she said flopping onto the sand, pretending to faint, “I’m soooo tired from being so poorly escorted, I don’t think I could go on! You’ll have to carry me over the fence.”  
Vegeta glared at her before smiling wickedly. He suddenly scooped her up bridal style, catching her off guard. “Hey! What are you--” she started, squirming until she noticed he was floating. She looked up at him in surprise and he grinned evilly at her.   
He floated over the fence and dropped her on the ground. She landed on her butt with and “Oof!” After picking herself up, she stared up at him in awe. “Be careful what you wish for,” he sneered before floating back over the fence, “Now get out of here or else. He grinned as he walked away.  
“Soooo….see ya tomorrow?” the girl called. Vegeta rolled his eyes as he walked away.  
….  
The next day Vegeta was going on his afternoon jog. As he rounded the corner he was surprised to find Vidalia sitting there with a stack of tubs and buckets next to here. “What the hell are you doing back here again?” he snapped as he walked up to her, “I thought I told you to get lost the other day.”  
She tipped her shades down to look up at him. “And I said I’d see you tomorrow,” she responded, “Besides, your little trick gave me an awesome idea and I need your help.”  
“I’m not helping you with anything!” he growled, “Now scram before I throw you over the--”  
“If you help me, you’ll get to throw stuff at people and not get in trouble.”  
“…”  
…...  
Vegeta stared down at the collection of objects before him. There were several tubs filled with different colored water. She told him it was something called “water color paint.” How redundant. Attached to each tub was a small water pump with a nozzle. In Vidalia hands was a bag filled with strange rubber sacks she called balloons. “I always wanted to paint on the world's largest canvas. I think this will be close enough,” she said as she demos rated how to fill the balloons. After an hour of filling, many popped balloons, and much laugher at Vegeta's expense, they were finally read for phase two of Vidalia’s master plan.  
“Ok, I need you to fly me and the buckets to the top of the big donut,” she explained.  
“I don’t take orders from humans,” he stated, crossing his arms.  
Vidalia rolled her eyes. “Ok, will you please give the buckets and I a lift, oh mighty prince?” she said sarcastically.  
“That's better,” he said as he approached her. He picked her up by the waist and lifted her to the roof of the store. He then left to grab the buckets before sitting down next to her. “So what’s next?” he asked.   
“Now,” she said with a smirk as she picked one up, “We drop the bombs.” She flung it over the edge, splattering on the ground as a bright shade of blue.   
“Is that it?” he asked.  
Vidalia laughed. “Oh not even close!” she chuckled. She picked out another one and scanned the streets. She saw someone carrying a boombox and her eyes narrowed. “Target at two o'clock!” she whispered. She then threw the balloon and it exploded on the person’s leg. Vegeta smiled as the man stumbled, but it faded as she suddenly dragged him down below viewing level.  
“Hey!” he hissed, “The hell was that for?!”  
“You can’t let yourself get caught, dummy!” she stated like it was obvious.  
“I thought you said we couldn’t get in trouble!” he said.  
“You can’t get in trouble if they don’t catch you!” she responded with an evil smirk. Vegeta stared at her blankly for a moment before returning it. He hated to admit it, but he liked the way this human thought.  
“Ok,” she said peered up over the edge of the donut hole, “I think the coast is clear.” “Now how about you try,” she continued, handing him one. “Let’s try for distance,” she thought, “I wanna see if you can land one on the beach.”  
“Easy,” Vegeta said with his arms crossed confidently. He then took the water balloon through the hole of the giant metal donut. The balloon flew across the sky and landed on the beach, creating a green spot in the sand.  
“Woah! Nice one!” Vidalia cheered. Then something caught her eye. As she turned to look at it, she got an idea. She tapped Vegeta on the shoulder and pointed to something in the parking lot. “See that,” she said pointing to a van that's side read “Vote for Buck Dewey”, “that is the mayor’s election mobile. Think you can blot out all the wording with just one balloon?”  
Vegeta smirked and nodded. He picked up a water balloon and threw it at the van. When it hit the side of the van, a large dent the size of a gorilla's fist was created and it tipped over. The car alarm went off and Vidalia’s face was filled with shock.   
“Woah….” she breathed, “That was a bit excessive. Awesome, but excessive.” Vegeta smiled with pride.  
“My car!” someone shouted. The pride left his face as they both ducked behind the donut.  
“Ok...I think we should move on to the next building…,” Vidalia said. Vegeta nodded and the two slipped away undetected with their buckets of water balloons.  
….  
Later that evening, Vegeta flew back to the temple, very pleased with himself. He was covered in the water soluble paint but he didn’t care too much. He hadn’t had this much fun in a while. As he walked up the temple steps, he found Rose waiting for him. Her arms were crossed over her chest at she had a disappointed look on her face.  
“Where have you been?” she asked simply, “You’ve been gone all day! You even missed dinner.”  
He was unfazed by her stern expression. “Spending time with the humans,” he said walking past her, towards the temple door, “You’d be proud. I even managed to get one of them to like me.”  
“Is that so?” she said skeptically, “Because I heard from a few people in the city that someone’s been terrorizing the town with paint filled balloons, and guess who I find coming home covered in paint.”  
“I will not deny that I was apart of that,” he said, “But I am being honest too. I did spend time with a human female today, and the whole thing was her idea.”  
Rose’s eyes widened slightly. “Who is this human?” she asked.   
“Some girl named Vidalia. I think she’s twelve or so,” he answered.  
Rose sighed. She knew that one very well. The whole town knew her as a trouble maker. She could be sweet and was very creative, but she was also impulsively defiant. No wonder Vegeta liked her. Right now she was feeling very conflicted. She wanted to be happy that he had found a friend...but she wished he hadn’t made one out of what could possibly be such a bad influence. However, considering his history, was she really the bad influence or was he?  
“You’re still in trouble,” she finally said, “You caused a lot of damage today. I’m afraid I have to keep you under supervision for a while.”  
He shrugged. “That’s fine. Vidalia was planning on using me to sneak into some violent film she wasn’t allowed to see because she’s apparently too young,” he replied nonchalantly, “It sounded stupid. I didn’t really want to go anyways.”  
Rose blinked. “Are...are you using reverse psychology on me?!” she questioned, slightly baffled.  
Vegeta smirked. “That depends on what I’m trying to get you to do!” he replied. He then bowed slightly to her. “Goodnight, Master Rose,” he said before entering the temple.   
Rose blinked at him in surprise. She then sighed and walked to the door. She had made up her mind: they were both terrible influences on each other.


	27. What Friends are For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you read this chapter, I have a special treat for you all:  
> http://artdirector123.deviantart.com/art/We-are-the-Z-Fighters-595398966?ga_submit_new=10%253A1457454737  
> and now back to our regularly scheduled program.

“Vidalia, I’m here to model for the new painting you wanted to make,” he shouted as he barged into the house. Crap. She had forgotten she had invited him over. Now was not the time for him to be around. She huddled in the bathroom, being as quiet as possible. Hopefully he would just go away.“Come on! I know you’re here. I can sense you,” he called. She cursed his freaky sixth sense abilities.   
He walked up to the bathroom door and banged on it. “Hey! Come on, let’s get these photos taken so you can start on your project,” he shouted, “I’ve got training in an hour.”  
“Go away, I’m busy!” she shouted back, “I have to wash my hair. Come back later.”  
“That’s a load of crap,” he retorted, “Vidalia, I don’t know whether to be insulted because you thought I couldn’t tell when you’re lying, or that you think I’m dumb enough to not remember that there isn't a shower in that room. Seriously, I’m in your house almost as often as you.”   
“Well maybe I’m using the sink!” she snapped, “Don’t you have anything better to do, Veggie-head?”  
“Not for another hour thanks to you, Onion-girl,” he responded with equal bite as he leaned against the wall next to the door. “You’re not going to win. You can’t stay in there forever, and I’m not leaving until you get out of there,” he said with a smirk, “It doesn't even matter. I can alway break down the door if I like.”  
Vidalia sighed. There was no beating him in this game. The door clicked as it unlocked and she stepped outside. “You’re a prick, you know that?” she stated as she glared at him.  
Vegeta’s smirk fell. “And you look like crap. Maybe you should be taking a shower,” he observed. He was right. Her hair was a mess. She was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. There were dark circles under her eyes and she looked visibly sick from a combination of stress and her upset stomach.  
That didn't stop her from arguing with him. “Maybe you should take one. You smell like a 20 year old gym sock,” she snapped.   
He shrugged, arms still folded. “I’ve been training all morning. What’s your excuse?”  
“None of your business,”  
“Too bad, I’m making it my business,”  
“What makes you think you can do that?”  
“Because as a ‘prick’ it’s my job to mess with your life,” he argued, “And it’s not like you can stop me.”  
Vidalia glared at him. “Fine!” she muttered, dragging him into the bathroom, “You want to know so bad, then here you go!” she picked up the pregnancy test that she had left on the counter when she had gone to open the door and pointed at it.  
Vegeta looked at the piece of plastic in her hand in confusion then to her expectantly. There was a long, awkward pause. “And this means what exactly?” he finally prompted.  
Vidalia blinked at him in surprise. “It’s a pregnancy test, you idiot!” she cried in exasperation, “I’m pregnant!” One of Vegeta’s eyebrows raised before he nodded in understanding. “How could you not know what a pregnancy test is?” she questioned.  
“You do realize you are one of the few humans, and to a greater extent females, that I actually talk to, right?” he offered in response.  
Vidalia sighed. “I should, considering you were so reclusive that my mom thought you were an imaginary friend for a good six months…” she muttered as she slid to the floor.  
He sat down next to her. “So who’s the father?” he asked.  
“Marty…” she admitted.   
Vegeta looked at her in shock. “Why?!” he questioned.   
“I don’t know...he said that he could get me a gig as an artist for album covers…” she sighed.  
“So what are you going to do now?” he asked, “Are you getting rid of it?”  
“I can’t,” she said rubbing her eyes. “Not only would my mom kill me and I have no idea where a clinic is...but I don’t think I could make myself go through with it.” “But I don’t have anyway to take care of it,” she lamented, “I’m barely making enough to scrape by and even if I find Marty, which at this point might be impossible, he’s sure as heck not gonna pay child support.”  
“Hmm…” Vegeta thought. He got up and started walking towards the door. “I’ll be back...eventually,” he said before shutting the door behind him.  
....  
Empire City  
Marty walked out of the bar with a young man. A guitar was slung over his back. “You really think I can go far in the music industry?” the young man asked.  
“Trust me kid, with my help, you’ll make to the top in no time at all!” he said. “Now wait here. I just need to get the paperwork from my car,” he said as he stepped into an alley. An old beat up rental car sat next to a brick wall. Marty pulled out his keys. As he began unlocking his car, he heard footsteps. He turned around and scanned the alley way. When he saw nothing, he turned back to his car, opened the door, and started pulling out papers.  
“Still looking for talent to leach off of?” a voice spoke up. Marty jumped and turned to see a shorter man with spiky black hair. His arms were folded over his chest and he was smirking. “Maybe you should take me on. I’m not much of a singer, but I’ve been told I’m good at landing a ‘smash hit,’” he continued.  
Marty scowled at him. “Sorry, but I’ve already got a client,” he dismissed, “So beat it kid before I call the cops.” Marty started walking away.  
Vegeta frowned and moved in front of him. “I wasn’t done talking to you,” he snarled, taking a step forward.  
“Hey! Stay away from me!” he warned, as he backed up, “What do you want from me?”  
“You’re going to come with me,” Vegeta stated, tail lashing back and forth, “You caused my friend a lot of grief. Now, you’re going to make up for it.”  
“Oh sure!” Marty said backing up to the open car door, “No problem! I’m sorry for hurting your friend. Let me just get my wallet and-” He reached into the car and swiftly pulled out a gun. “Give you something to chew on!” he snapped as he fired at the Saiyan several times. Marty’s eyes widened as they all just bounced off. Vegeta glared at him before stepping forward and slapping the gun out of his hand while punching him in the stomach.  
Marty flew down the alley and hit a collection of trash cans. “You really shouldn’t have done that…” Vegeta sneered as he walked up to him. He then pulled him up by his shirt. “Now…” Vegeta said with a smirk, “Are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?” Marty swallowed in fear.  
….  
Vidalia hadn’t see Vegeta in days. No one had. Rose and the others were starting to get worried, though not for his safety. They were worried he might have gotten in way over his head with something. Then one morning he showed up again at Vidalia’s door. She opened it to find him standing there, gripping a very beat up looking Marty by the back of his hoody.  
“You were wrong Vidalia,” he said with a smirk, “Not only was fairly easy to find, but also he seems to be very willing to pay for child support, isn’t that right?” He shook the man slightly for emphasis. He yelped and then nodded frantically, fear plastered across his face.


	28. Frybo

Piccolo scanned the city. looking anything suspicious. He and Goku had been looking for a gem shard for the past few hours. They had found them on a mission and after having to chase one down after it had taken control of Piccolo’s turban, they figured out just what exactly they were capable of. And then Goku managed to lose one…  
The two had split up to look for it but it was nowhere to be found. “maybe I should search the temple...I hope Steven hasn’t found it…” he thought. Suddenly, a loud scream pierced his ears. “Looks like my hope was in vain…” he muttered as he tracked the scream back to the fry shop on the boardwalk. Humans we running from it as fast as they could. Steven and the owner’s son were standing outside, looking on in horror. As someone ran out, what appeared to be a yellow tentacle reached out from the building and grabbed them, dragging them back inside. The owner was thrown through the window and Piccolo caught him in midair as he flew towards him.  
“Thanks!” Mr. Fryman said to the Namekian.  
“Don’t mention it,” he said before dropping the man.  
“Dad!” Peedee cried as he ran to help up the elder Fryman.  
Piccolo then turned to the half gem. “Steven, you have ten seconds to start explaining what’s going on,” he said, folding his arms over his chest.  
Steven looked at his feet. “Well...You see it started when I couldn’t find my pants this morning,” he started, “And well I saw them running around and when I caught them there was something in the pocket and uh…I might have…”  
Frybo suddenly burst through the door, having tackled Goku. As he wrestled with the suit and it tried to stuff his face with french fries, he noticed Piccolo. “Piccolo! I think I found the shard. Someone must have stashed it inside this sui-MMFT!” Frybo took the opportunity to shove some fries down his throat. Goku then kicked it off and spat the fries out. “Stop it! I don’t want any fries! At least not from you anyways,” he demanded.  
“We told him to get people to eat fries…” Steven admitted.  
Piccolo sighed. He lunged for the costume and slammed into it. The costume screeched and grabbed his arms with its tentacle fries. Piccolo gripped them and spun it around before slamming it into the ground. He then leapt into the air and fired a ki blast at the costume. The costume exploded in a burst of fire and ketchup. Everyone aside from Piccolo was covered in it. He floated back down to the mess where Goku was searching the suit for the shard. As e pulled it out, Mr. Fryman ran up to them.   
“Oh thank you!” he cheered, “You saved my restaurant! Is there anything I can do to repay you? Maybe a free meal?”   
“No thanks,” Piccolo stated bluntly.  
“I’ll take you up on that offer!” Goku chimed in. Piccolo turned and gave him a strange look. “What?” Goku asked.  
“You were just being force fed fries by a living fast food mascot and now you want more?! You even said you didn’t want any!” Piccolo stated in disbelief.  
“Well no, not from Frybo. He was trying to feed me fries that were still frozen. Nobody wants to eat that!” Goku reasoned, “But I’m still hungry. It’s why I stopped here and found out what was going on in the first place.”  
Piccolo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Whatever,” he responded before turning to Steven. “Come on,” he said, grabbing the boy’s hand, “Let’s go home and get you cleaned up.”  
“I’m in big trouble, aren’t I?” Steven asked solemnly.  
“Actually, no,” Piccolo responded, causing the boy to look up in confusion, “Well, what am I going to punish you for? Disobeying me? I didn’t tell you about this so there’s no way you could have know about it. And it looks like you weren’t trying to cause trouble.”  
“So you’re not going to punish me?” Steven said excitedly.  
“Not unless you track ketchup into the temple,” he stated. Steven cheered and Piccolo grinned slightly.


	29. Find that Dragonball!

“Now entering Beach City” the sign read as Bulma passed it. The sun sank low as she sped towards the beach town in her tiny car. She had no idea what a dragon ball might be doing here in this quiet little town, but the radar had never been wrong before. It beats trying to search through a jungle for them, anyways.  
As she drove down through the town, she noticed the dragon radar was leading her towards the shore. She hoped it wasn’t in the ocean...She didn’t have a submarine capsule with her and she did not want to go back home to get one. Luckily, as she got closer, it didn’t seem to be trying to get her any closer to the shore. She stopped in front of a tall black fence. On one of the posts there was a keep out sign, but part of it was blacked out and replaced with another person's hand writing. She stared at the sign and then back to her radar. It was saying she needed to go over the fence but she doubted if she was caught trespassing she’d really just be escorted off the property. She needed that dragon ball though. She wouldn’t be able to make her wish without it! Besides, if she really needed to, she could always just sweet talk or bribe her way out of a situation. With that, Bulma began to climb over the fence. Once she had landed on the other side she began following the radar once again, glancing up every once in awhile to look out for trouble. As she got closer to the dragon ball, she found herself looking up at a giant statue of a giant woman.   
“It must be stuck in one of the crevices of the statue…” she thought as she stared at it from the side. “She sighed as she continued, “Well that’s just great...I thought this would be easy…” She glanced around before setting down her backpack and pulling out a grappling hook. She aimed it up at the top of the statue and fired. when it landed, it hooked onto some of the stone and clung to it. She tugged on it slightly to make sure it was secure before using it to start her climb. As she scaled the side of the statue, she searched high and low for the orange jewel, but she couldn’t find it anywhere. Once she was a story or two up, she began scaling the hair of the statue. As she climbed over one of the curls, she was met with an unexpected sight.  
“Hey, whatcha doing?” a voice rang out. She looked up to see a little boy sitting on the stone with a few bowls of food in front of him. She was so shocked by his presence, that she almost lost her grip on the rope! Once she had regained her composure, she got a better look at him. His hair was a mess and he wore an orange gi with a pink star on the chest. There was something brown and fuzzy wrapped around the boy’s waist too, but she couldn’t tell what it was.  
“I uh...I could ask you the same thing!” Bulma retorted.  
The boy shrugged. “I live here,” he answered simply. “I’m Goku by the way,” he said before cocking his head to the side, “Who are you? I’ve never seen a human like you around here before. Do they all have blue hair where you come from?”  
Bulma blinked at him in surprise. “Don’t you recognize me? I’m Bulma Briefs, the daughter of one of the most influential scientists in the world!” she said.  
“Sorry, but I guess I’ve never heard of you,” he said politely, “I don’t know many humans that don’t live around here.”  
“So what brings you to Beach City?” he asked.  
She looked the kid up and down. He seemed pretty friendly and didn’t look like a threat. Maybe it would be ok to tell him. “Well…”she started, “I’m traveling the world looking for these things called dragon balls. Have you seen one?”  
“Dragon balls?” he asked, “Are they orange with red stars?”  
Bulma’s face lit up. “Yes! That’s them,” she exclaimed, “Can you take me to one?” Goku seemed to sit and ponder for a second. As he did so, the old stone on which the grappling hook had lodged itself began to crumble. with a crack, the hook came loose and Bulma began to fall. “WAAAH!” she cried as she plummeted. She looked below her in fear as she fell, until the rope suddenly became taught again. She bounced a little as her body suddenly reacted from the sudden stop in free fall. She looked up to see that Goku was holding the rope. Bulma breathed a sigh of relief.  
That relief didn’t last long however, as the two heard a loud snap as the rope broke. Bulma began plummeting to her doom once again. She screamed and squeezed her eyes shut. Instead of hitting the rocks below, she found herself landing in something much softer, yet still very firm. She opened her eyes to see that someone had caught her…in mid air. “H-how?” she asked turning to look at him as he floated to the ground. He didn’t respond, but she got a good look at him. He had spiky black hair and dark eyebrows. His expression was very stern. He wore some kind of jump suit or work out clothes. It was blue with a large, lighter blue star covering the left side of his chest. “Um...Thanks for saving me…” she said as they landed, “Who are you?” she asked.  
He didn't answer her question as he set her down. “You shouldn't be here,” he stated, “This isn’t a jungle gym. The sign is there for a reason. You could have killed yourself fooling around on the rocks like that. Now get out or I will have to force you to leave.”  
Bulma glared at him. “First off, while I appreciate you saving me, I am not leaving. I have spent so much time getting here and I haven’t found what I’m looking for yet,” she started, “Secondly, Don’t talk to me like I’m a child! I’m sixteen and I’m way more mature than you considering the fact that I’m not the one running around with a fake tail strapped to my back!”  
The teen glared back at her. “It’s not fake, you idiot,” he hissed as it lashed back and forth. Bulma’s eyes widened as she saw it move. It really wasn't fake…  
“W-what are you?!” she stuttered as she backed away.  
“I am Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans,” he stated, taking a step forward, “Now you mentioned you were looking for something. What, or who, exactly are you looking for?” His eyes narrowed at her in suspicion.  
Bulma’s knees were shaking. “Well, I uh…” she started.  
“She want’s my grandpa’s dragon ball,” Goku called. They both turned to see him hop down from the rocks. “That’s why she was climbing the temple,” he explained.  
“Really? That’s all she wants?” Vegeta questioned as he relaxed slightly.  
“Yes!” Bulma interjected, “So you’ll give it to me, right?”  
“No,” Vegeta responded, “Now leave.”  
Bulma frowned before smirking evilly. She leaned into him and began twirling a piece of her hair. “Oh please won’t you let me see it?” she cooed, fluttering her eyes at him, “Just one look. If you do, I’ll do something nice for you in return! Maybe a kiss or a touch…”   
Vegeta’s face became flushed as she leaned in close to him. “G-get off me!” he cried, shoving her away. “Vulgar girl…” he muttered, cheeks still flushed as he turned away from her. His tail was curled up and he crossed his arms over his chest.  
Bulma pouted. She was sure that would work. “You can see it if you like,” Goku stated simply. “I don’t want a kiss or anything though, but If you want to see it you can.”  
“Aw thanks, kid!” Bulma cried, hugging him.  
Vegeta gave the boy a surprised expression. “Kakarot, you can’t just let her in the temple!” he hissed.  
Goku cocked his head to the side. “Why not? You let Vidalia hang around the temple all the time,” he questioned.  
“That’s different! We can trust Vidalia!” he argued, “Besides, I still don’t bring her inside the temple.”  
“Then I won’t bring her inside,” he explained, “I’ll just bring the dragon ball outside!” Vegeta facepalmed but relented all the same. The trio then began walking back to the temple entrance.  
….  
When they approached the temple door, Goku walked up to it and placed his hand on the pad in the center of the door. “You guys wait here,” Goku said, “I’ll go find the dragon ball.” He then hopped through the magic door and left the pair alone as it closed behind him.  
There was an awkward silence between them. Bulma glanced over to the prince, who was avoiding making eye contact with her. “Soooo….” she started, “are there a lot of people with tails in this town.”  
“No,” he stated, “Just the two of us.”  
“And you two are Sayamans?” she asked.  
Vegeta’s mouth twitched. “It’s ‘Saiyans’ and yes we are,” he answered.  
“Is it just you out here? Do you have anyone looking out for you?” she asked a little more concerned, “I don’t mean to be rude, but you guys seem a little young to be living all on your own.”  
“No,” he responded, “We have someone looking after is. Her name is Rose.”   
“Oh, is she your mom?” she asked.  
That was a complicated question. She sort of was, though more so for Kakarot, but at the same time she wasn't. She obviously wasn’t his mother biologically, and Vegeta had met her late enough in life that he really didn't need her to take care of him. But honestly, she was the closest thing he’d had to a mother since his own had died giving birth to his most likely late brother Tarble. Rose was one of the few people to give him genuine praise and scold him not out of anger, but from worry. She dealt with him patiently when he was at his worst, though never acted as though she was subservient to him like others would have. She listened to him before making a judgement, and while she criticized him, it always felt like what she said was intended to make him better, not to put him down. And he looked up to her and worried about her when she was gone for longer than a few days. He could trust her and depend on her, but he really didn’t need to. Really, she was more like a role model or a mentor for him than a mother, and yet at the same time he couldn't fully deny the statement of her being his mother either.  
Before he could respond, the warp pad lit up as Rose returned. When she saw the pair of them, her eyes widened for a second before she smiled. “Who’s this, Vegeta? Did Vidalia introduce you to one of her friends while I was gone?” she asked.  
Vegeta rolled his eyes. “No, I found this girl trying to climb the temple statue looking for a dragon ball,” he explained.  
Rose’s smile fell as her expression became more serious. “Why are you looking for the dragon balls?” she questioned, sternly yet gently.  
Bulma almost felt intimidated by the woman. She obviously knew about the legend, but she didn't seem to accusatory. “Well I was going to use them to make a wish…” she explained. “I was going to wish for an unlimited amount of strawberries--”  
“An unlimited amount of strawberries?!” Vegeta cried in disbelief, “That’s a horrible wish! You can literally grow or buy as many as you like!”  
“Hey I said it WAS my wish! It’s not anymore!” she cried, “I’m not an idiot! I realized how stupid it was, that’s why I changed it!”  
“Then what is you new wish?” he asked, folding his arms.  
“I’m not telling you now. You’ll just find some way to make fun of it!” she snapped at him. Vegeta huffed and turned away. Bulma stuck her tongue out at him before becoming Rose closer so she could tell her privately. Rose knelt down to listen to her. “I’m going to wish for the perfect boyfriend,” she whispered, “Good men are so hard to come across. You get me, right?” Rose turned and looked at her in surprise before smiling in relief. It was a childish wish, but harmless.   
“Well if that’s all you’re wishing for, I don’t see a problem with you using the dragon ball, but it’s ultimately Goku’s decision on whether you can or can’t,” she said.  
Bulma’s eyes lit up while Vegeta’s jaw dropped. “What?!” he sputtered, “You can’t be serious!”  
“Oh thank you!” Bulma cried, hugging the gem.  
“Don’t thank me just yet,” she said, “It’s still Goku’s decision in the end.” As if on cue, the younger Saiyan walked through the door, holding the four star dragon ball. “There you are!” she called, “We were just talking about you. This young lady was wondering if you would be willing to lend her your dragon ball.”  
Goku frowned. “No way! It was my grandpa’s!” he exclaimed.  
“But the other dragon balls won’t work without it!” Bulma argued, “Please, I’ll get it back to you afterwards.”  
“Right, and what are we supposed to do if we never see you again,” Vegeta retorted, not believing her for a second.  
“No I will! I promise!” she pleaded before looking to Rose for assistance.   
“What if you went with her Goku,” she suggested, “Then you can make sure you get your dragonball back. Not only that, but you’ll get to travel the world and see plenty of new places, go on new adventures, and meet many different martial artist that you can learn from.”  
Goku and Bulma smiled while Vegeta looked at Rose in surprise. “Why are you helping her?!” he demanded.  
“Yeah! That sounds awesome!” Goku exclaimed, his eyes practically sparkling at the thought and his tail wagging, “I can’t wait! When can we head out?!”  
“How about tomorrow,” Bulma said, “We wouldn’t be able to get to the next city over before night fall, and I don’t feel like staying up late to drive or camping out again.” “I’ll see you guys in the morning, alright?” she said as she headed out of the temple, “thanks again!”  
“Bye Bulma!” Goku called, “This is going to be amazing! I gotta start packing!” He then turned and ran back to the temple door, clicking his heels as he did so.  
Vegeta then turned to Rose. “I cannot believe you’re condoning this,” he said, “You’re really going to just let him travel the world with that spoiled brat unsupervised?”  
Rose hummed in amusement. “Actually, I was hoping you’d go along with them,” she stated, “You need some time away from Beach City, a vacation of sorts.”  
Vegeta blinked at her in surprise. “No way,” he said crossing his arms, “I would be wasting too much time that I should be spending training. The occasional mission to go fight gem beasts is all I need for time away.”  
“Who said you’d have to stop training?” she pointed out with a gentle smile, “You can still train, it just won’t be with me. In fact, I think you need to spend some time training with someone else. You must learn to adapt to your opponent. If you fight others like you fight me, you’ll become predictable and stale.” Vegeta seemed to think as she continued, “There are some things that I can’t teach you. Go out there and diversify your arsenal so to speak. Who knows? You might even be able to bring back the technique to defeat me!”  
Vegeta thought for a few moments longer before nodding his head. “Alright,” he said, “I’ll go with them. If anything, roughing it will help me hone my survival skills.”   
Rose smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder. “That’s the spirit,” she said, “Now go ahead and get some rest. I’ll see you two off in the morning.”  
“And what will you do once we’re gone?” he asked as he walked towards the door, “It’s going to be extremely quiet without us around.”  
“Don’t worry about me! I’ll figure out something to do,” she said, “I’ll probably spend some time with a few old friends of mine like Korin or Kami, maybe even see what Baba’s up to.”   
Vegeta nodded. “Don’t have too much fun without us,” he said as he entered the temple.   
“Trust me, I think you two are going to have more fun than I will,” she responded as she watched the door close behind him.


	30. The Kindergarten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: this takes place sometime between Rose's Room and Monster buddies.

"Woah…" Steven breathed as he gazed at the rock walls reaching up all around him, "What is this place?" He hadn't seen anyplace like it before. The canyon was filled with humanoid shaped holes. Everything seemed so bleak. Metal contraptions that looked like viruses clung precariously to the rock face.

"It's called the Kindergarten," Piccolo explained, "Thousands of years ago, gems used to be made here. However, the process caused irreparable damage to the earth, so your mother put a stop to it via a great war."

"Really? That's what the war she fought in was for?" Steven asked as they walked along, "How were gems made?"

"Well," Piccolo started, but was cut off by Goku who was way ahead of them.

"Come on guys! We have to hurry if we're going to catch this thing!" he called, "The sooner we do, the sooner we can get out of here."

Piccolo frowned. Goku was the reason the three of them were in this mess in the first place. Goku had accidentally chased the corrupted gem across the wasteland and off a cliff at the edge of the Kindergarten. Piccolo might have called him out on it, had he not known why Goku was so eager to leave. Out of the three of them, Goku was for whatever reason the most uncomfortable with this place. No one knew quite why, though Piccolo had a few ideas. One was because the kindergarten was one of the few things that Shenron couldn't fix. They had tried, but he had stated it was beyond his power. They really shouldn't have been surprised. Gem magic and Shenron's magic didn't tend to mix well, so much so that, as a gem, Rose couldn't even summon the dragon if she wanted to. Still, the realisation managed to mess with their heads, particularly Goku's.

They walked for a few moments until Steven spoke up again. "Piccolo..." Steven asked, a little uneasy, "...Did the gems not know they were hurting the Earth?"

"They knew," Piccolo explained, "They just didn't care."

"But the Earth is a beautiful place full of people and plants and animals! Sure there are some bad ones, but Mom saw how great the Earth was. Why couldn't they?" he asked.

"Because they weren't like your mother, Steven," he explained, "Just like people, not all gems, or aliens in general for that matter, are nice. A lot of them look down on other races or only care about themselves. My dad was a good example of that. He tried to take over the world."

Steven looked at Piccolo in surprise. "Really?" he asked.

"Yes, he hurt a lot of innocent people and saw humans as insects. On top of that, he was uncompromising. No one could reason with him, not even your mother. She had to put a stop to him for good in the end," he explained.

"Oh…" Steven muttered, looking down. There was a long pause before Steven spoke up again. "Piccolo?" Steven asked, "Were there bad Saiyans like that too? Like...super villain bad? I know Vegeta said the Saiyans were a warrior race but…"

Piccolo could practically feel Goku tense slightly and hesitate in his search as he listened in a few yards away. Piccolo sighed. He knew Vegeta and Goku had been avoiding telling him about the Saiyan involvement in Frieza's army. To be honest, he wasn't to eager about breaking the news to him either. The most he knew was that Goku had been left on earth as a baby, Vegeta had crash landed, and because of that Rose had made him a kinder person. He knew about Lord Frieza and that Planet Vegeta had been destroyed by him too, but many of the details were still left out.

They had told the other humans pretty early on about what exactly Saiyans were and how the pair had come to Earth, but things were different with Steven. Maybe it was because he was a child. Maybe it was because they liked that he looked up to them and were worried that might change. Whatever the case may be, they left him in the dark about a lot of things. Sure he knew what the Oozaru form was, but he certainly didn't know why Vegeta was so well practiced with it...or why Goku was much less keen on using it. "Like I said, Steven. There are good and bad people of all races," Piccolo finally explained, "There were Saiyans who liked to fight for fun, and then there were Saiyans that liked to hurt people for fun, and plenty in between. It depends on the person." Piccolo glanced over to see Goku had relaxed.

"Ok," Steve replied, seemingly satisfied with that explanation. Suddenly, a hissing, rattling noise could be heard.

"Look out!" Goku called. They turned just in time to see a creature with a snapping maw and a flower like mane jump out at them. It tried to bite Piccolo but he held its mouth open with his hands. The creature continued to slobber and snarl at him until he kneed it in the abdomen. The creature screeched before grabbing the Namekian with its lobster like claws.

Piccolo bellowed in pain while Steven looked on in fear. The fear quickly switched to determination."Get off of him!" Steven cried before leaping at the gem beast and kicking it in the side. The force sent the creature flying into a boulder and causing a small crack in its surface.

"I got him!" Goku shouted as held his hands in position as he ran forward, "Ka-me-ha-me-HA!" A beam of energy erupted from his hands as he thrust them forward. The gem beast screamed and exploded as the energy hit it. The boulder behind it erupted into rubble as it was hit with the remainder of the blast. Pebbles showered down upon them for a few moments.

"I think you overdid it a bit," Piccolo commented as he went to pick up the gem from the rubble that had rained down upon them.

Goku shrugged. "Sorry. Well, at least it got the job done," he said, "Let's head home. I think there's a warp pad this way."

Piccolo nodded as he put the gem away in a ring box. He then turned to Steven. "Nice work, kid," he said as they walked along.

"Yeah!" Goku agreed, "How about we get some donuts when we get back. It's almost lunch anyways." The boy nodded excitedly.

"I don't think donuts constitute as a meal," Piccolo stated as he followed them.

"They do for breakfast, why not lunch too?" Goku retorted as the continued away from the pile of rubble.

Meanwhile, at said pile of rubble, the debris began to sink as a purple gem floated out of it. none of them noticed as a stocky shape reformed and collapsed to the ground. Amethyst looked up from the ground as the figures disappeared in the distance before picking herself up and looking herself over. She was free! Finally free! After all those years of being stuck under that boulder, someone had finally rescued her!...albeit by accident, but still. She looked up again to call out to the people who had rescued her, but they were gone. She stared at where they had been for a moment before shrugging and smiling. Oh well, at least she could do whatever she wanted to now. With that, she ran off into the bleak canyon.


	31. Space Invader

Ronaldo grumbled as he sat by the campfire as crickets chirped. His dad had taken his brother and himself camping over the weekend. For him, that meant no cell service, no wifi, and plenty of bug bites. He couldn't watch the next episode of Koala Princess that was to come out this week or chat with his online friends. He couldn't even do any paranormal investigations out here. Nothing strange ever happens on camping trips!

"Hey Ronaldo," his father called walking up to him, "I forgot to get some hotdogs. Your brother and I are going to head back to the general store a mile up and pick some up, alright?"

"Whatever…" the teen sighed, not looking up.

"Ok. Don't go anywhere," he said, "We're leaving the rest of the supplies in the tent if you need anything. See you later!"

Ronaldo waved off his father as he and his brother drove away in the van they rented. Ronaldo sighed as he looked up at the clear sky full of stars. At least there was one good thing about this trip: he had a great view of space from here. One star was shining brighter than others. "I just wish there was something else to do…" he muttered. As he watched the star, he noticed it was getting bigger and brighter. Was he watching a super nova in progress? He got out his phone to record, but as he did so, It got brighter and ad bigger, faster and faster. He soon realised it wasn't a star, but some kind of sphere falling to earth….and it was headed straight for him! Ronaldo fell backwards as it zoomed just above the tree line before crashing into the ground. "Woah…" he whispered, "I gotta see what that was! Maybe I can make first contact!" With that he ran off into the woods, brandishing his phone.

….

Raditz prepared himself for landing as he plummeted to the planet below. It had been months since he had initially sensed the energy spikes, but he finally managed to get to their location. He wasn't too concerned about alerting anyone important to his presence. In the years he'd spent alone in space, he had to make many modifications to his spacecraft. The most major one was a stealth mode of sorts. The pod barely gave off any radio signals and the outer shell was redesigned to look like it was part of galactic patrol. Nobody messed with galactic patrol...Well except for himself. He had to steal a few parts a couple years back from a rookie named Joco to make the modifications.

On top of that, he'd picked up some techniques on disguising himself. He stopped by a planet where the people had taught him how to lower his energy output. It had become pretty useful for dodging bounty hunters and the hundreds of others who wanted his head.

As the pod crashed into the earth and formed a crater, the long haired Saiyan stretched. He then opened the airlock and stepped out.

Ronaldo's hands shook as he recorded the the tall alien with black hair step out of his ship. He was like the monkey men from back home, but his clothing was different. He mostly just wore armor, with his legs almost entirely exposed. Some sort of bands were tied around his left leg and arm. his hair went all the way down his back and fingerless gloves covered his hands.

Raditz brought his hand up to his souter only to find it wasn't there. "Oh right…" he thought, "It broke a while back…" He cursed at himself. He knew he should have gotten a new one. Well this was going to make things more difficult. How was he supposed to track the power levels down now?! He growled to himself before his ears caught the sound of bushes rustling.

"Who's there?" he shouted, "Show yourself before I blast you to bits!" His hands began to glow with ki energy.

"S-Someone who know's what you are, monkey man!" Ronaldo stuttered, stepping out of the brush as he tried to look brave. He had his phone in one hand and a potato in the other. Raditz eyes widened. Did he know what a Saiyan was? Did he land on a planet owned by the Colds? "What is your purpose here?" the teen demanded, "Were you sent in as backup for the failed sneeple invasion?"

Raditz's shock slowly turned to confusion. "Excuse me?" he questioned, "Sneeple? Is this some kind of joke?"

"Don't play dumb! You're kind works for the snail people!" the teen shouted, "You know! They're green, have antenna, and pointy ears."

A look of realization dawned on Raditz's face. "A-are you talking about Namekians?" he asked in disbelief. Raditz's suddenly burst out laughing. "Oh this is too rich! Why in the name of Lord Beerus would you think I would be working for those slimeballs?!" he cried between fits of laughter.

Ronaldo's face flushed in embarrassment. "Stop laughing!" he cried, "I know for a fact you work for the sneeple, or Namekians, or whatever they are! I see two of your kind hanging around on all the time!"

Raditz suddenly stopped laughing as his expression was replaced by a look of dead seriousness. Did he just say...two?! "What was that?" he asked, "Do you know where more of my kind are?"

Ronaldo smiled proudly. "Of course! You monkey men aren't as good at blending in with us humans as you think!" he stated.

Raditz narrowed his eyes at him as he stepped forward. "Where are they? Tell me at once!" he demanded.

Ronaldo took a step back, slightly intimidated. "Like I'd tell you where to hook up with you buddies for whatever invasion you're planning!" he snapped.

Raditz growled before darting forward, grabbing him by the neck, and slamming him against a tree. Ronaldo dropped his phone and the spud. "I'm done playing games, you little worm!" the Saiyan snarled, tightening his grip. As Ronaldo struggled, a beep sounded from his iphone. Raditz looked down to see the screen flash, saying "no more room for recording." Raditz promptly crushed the phone beneath his foot.

Ronaldo gasped in horror. "Hey! That was expensive!" he struggled to say. He attempted to kick the Saiyan, but Raditz kneed him in the stomach.

"I'm going to make this very simple," Raditz continued, "You can either tell me where those other Saiyans are, or you can end up in more pieces than your recording device! Got it?" Ronaldo swallowed before nodding in fear. Raditz grinned at that.


	32. Gohan and the Cool Kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. Enjoy!

Gohan jogged along the sidewalk in the early morning light. the little five year old carried his messenger bag filled with newspapers in his arms so it wouldn't drag along the ground. Steven rode along behind him on his bicycle. It was Gohan's fifth day of training, and his father had set him up to do the entire newspaper route for beach city this morning. Goku was tracking him from above in the nimbus to make sure he didn't hurt himself or get lost. Steven remembered having to do this, so he decided to tag along as well to cheer the little half Saiyan along.

Gohan actually wasn't doing that bad. Although Goku had made him deliver to the door like with Steven, he didn't make him run while doing so.

Gohan had stopped at several houses so far, including Mayor Dewey's and Mr. Smiley's. Next was the Pizza's. The little half Saiyan ran up to the door and knocked on it. "I'm coming!" Jenny called as she walked towards the door. She opened the door, half awake and crabby. "Ok, what do you wa...Huh?" she said looking down. The little Saiyan boy was standing at her feet and panting.

"Paper for you, miss," he huffed as he held one up for her.

"Oh...Thanks…" she said, taking the paper from him, "You're the little guy that hangs around Steven, right?"

he nodded. "Yeah, My name's Gohan. Nice to meet you," he replied, having caught his breath.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine. I'm just still getting used to the training program my dad set me up on," he assured, "I better get back to it. Have a good day!" He then ran off to the next house. Jenny frowned as she watched him.

….

A few months later….

Chichi opened the door, surprised to find not Sour Cream standing there, but Jenny Pizza. "Jenny? What are you doing here? I asked Sour Cream to look after Gohan this morning," she said. Goku was busy with Steven today and Chichi had to fly to Bulma's this morning and couldn't take Gohan with her. He needed to sleep. Vegeta and Goku had taken him out the previous night to practice controlling his Oozaru form again. She didn't like the idea of her baby boy staying out so late doing something so dangerous, but if he didn't the only other option would be to cut off the boy's tail. She couldn't do that to him.

"Sorry, but he woke up with the flu this morning so he called me up instead. I don't mind. It beats sitting through the morning shift at my dad's shop!" she joked.

"Ok…" Chichi accepted tentatively. Although she prefered Sour Cream looking after him while she was away due to his family's connections to the Z fighters, Gohan would probably just sleep the entire time, so Chichi supposed it wouldn't matter who was looking after him. "He's taking a nap right now, so don't wake him up unless absolutely necessary. Just call me if anything goes wrong. Both my cell phone and Bulma's number should be on the fridge. Speaking of which, if he wakes up hungry, there should be plenty you can warm up for him, Alright?" she explained as she stepped out the door.

"Got it!" Jenny said with a mock salute and a nodded before shutting the door behind her. She then walked a little down the drive before hailing the flying nimbus and taking off.

Jenny flopped down on the couch and pulled out her phone. She pretty much had the house to herself. She smiled as she thought about how easy this was going to be. She was going to be paid ten dollars an hour just to make sure the kid was still sleeping in the house! This was like free money. It was so much better than having her dad on her back all the time at work. Having a sister was the worst! Her dad was constantly comparing her to Kiki. Why he couldn't get that she wasn't like her sister, she'd never understand. As She relaxed and texted her friends, she looked around the room. There appeared to be a turtle shell lying in the corner along with a box of training gear. On the desk beside it was a stack of heavy text books. Jenny tilted her head curiously at it. Was one of Gohan's parent's going back to school? Interesting.

Suddenly, Jenny heard a yawn and footsteps as the little half Saiyan stepped downstairs. "Mom?" he called, "Mom, can I have a glass of water?" He walked into the living room and rubbing his eyes, his blanket draped over his shoulders. When he walked into the living room, there was an awkward silence as the two stared at each other. "Where's my mom?" he finally asked.

"She's out right now. She told me to look after you," Jenny explained.

"Oh…" Gohan said, still half awake. There was another pause before he spoke up again. "Can you get me a glass of water then?" he asked.

"No problem, kiddo," She said as she passed by him on her way to the kitchen. As she did, she got a good look at the little boy. "Jeeze, kid are you feeling alright?" she asked. His hair was a mess and there were dark circles around his eyes. "Do you need any medicine?" she asked.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just really tired. I didn't sleep last night," he explained.

Jenny gave him a concerned look as she filled a glass at the sink. "What happened to you? Did you have a nightmare?" she asked.

Gohan shook his head no. "My daddy and Mr. Vegeta took me out for special Saiyan training last night," he explained sleepily, "We were out all night and just got home at dawn."

Jenny nearly dropped the glass. "What did you say?" she asked, "That's crazy! No wonder you're half dead right now!" "Wait, aren't you like, five? Why are they having you out so late when you're only five?" she asked.

Gohan shrugged. "Dad says it's for my own good. It's not so bad. This isn't the first time we've done this," he explained, "And I took a nap before hand, so it's not like I didn't get any sleep. And Vegeta said he started this kind of training when he was four."

"Ok…" she said with a nod, but she didn't fully believe him.

She then heard a loud noise coming from the kid's stomach. He looked down at his stomach for a second before looking up again. "Can I have something to eat too?" he asked.

….

"I'm telling you guys, there's something weird going on with that kid," she explained, "They had him stay up all night working out! He's only five! On top of that, his mother has him looking over grade school level text books right now when he's barely out of preschool."

"Woah...That's a ton of pressure and work for a little kid," Buck commented.

"I know, right? I thought I had it bad with my Dad getting on my case about school work!" Jenny exclaimed, "But if it was just that I wouldn't worry. There are plenty of parents who are pushy about grades. He's doing so much else on the side, though." "So get this. I found this fifty pound turtle shell in the kid's house, right? Kinda a neat decoration, but it's not a decoration," she said, "His dad plans on having him carry that on his back in a few years while he does his morning paper route! Can you believe that?!"

Buck's sun glasses fell a little as he looked at her in surprise. "You're kidding right?" he asked. Jenny shook her head no. "That's messed up," he said shaking his head.

"Actually, it's not that crazy…" Sour Cream finally said, grabbing their attention, "At least not for them. Aside from the school work anyways."

"I'm sorry, but what?" Jenny asked.

"I mean as Saiyans they kinda do things differently. When I was little, My mom would hang around his dad and Vegeta. They'd get into some pretty intense training. Mom used to say it kept them from going stir crazy. And I remember a story Goku told me where one of his teachers used to have him lug a turtle shell around while delivering milk. He use to have to forge rivers with that thing," he explained, "And I remember Steven lugging that thing around when he used to do the paper route. I'm not saying I agree with it, but I don't know if we have the right to judge, ya know?"

"Ok but what about the midnight training thing? That kid was practically dead by the next morning," Jenny argued, "That can't be seen as normal. Who takes their kid out all night for a workout?"

Sour Cream frowned. 'Maybe because if they didn't, the kid might destroy the town on accident…' he thought to himself. He knew how dangerous the Oozaru state was. He recalled the time he first learned about it when he snuck out of the house as a kid and followed the two Saiyans on their "secret midnight training". He had been going through an "I want to be a ninja" phase. He loved watching them train at the time and wanted to see what kinds of awesome secret moves they would be practicing. His mother had always told him no and the two Saiyans had even a stronger stance on against letting him watch. That of course, had only made pre-teen Sour Cream want to see what was going on even more. What he found had been less amazing than he thought and more horrifying. They hadn't hurt anyone in those monstrous forms, and they never caught him, but it didn't stop him from not being able visit the two aliens for a while. "It's…a cultural thing…" he half lied, "Just leave them be about it. Trust me, it's not something we should get involved in."

His two friend stared at him for a second. "If you say so…?" Jenny said, more worried than before. There was an awkward silence between them. Then Jenny spoke up again. "So...how's the new mixtape coming?" she asked, lightening the mood.

….

She knew Sour Cream had told her to leave well enough alone, but Jenny wasn't about to give up just yet. Maybe the kid could handle this, but he was still a just a kid. He shouldn't have to work this hard. She wasn't going to barge into his house and yell at his parents or anything like that, but she could do little things like this. She drove up the hill to where she knew his paper route ended. As she saw him running down the hill as he headed back home, she waved at him. "Hey Gohan!" she called cheerfully, "Need a ride home?"

The boy stopped and hesitated. "Um...No thanks," he said, "I have to finish up this part of my training. Thanks for the offer, though."

"Aw, come on!" she said, "You've been working so hard that you need a little break. Come on, I have some leftover breadsticks in the back if you want 'em."

Gohan stopped to think for a second. He looked around for anyone watching before nodding and hopping in. Jenny smiled as she handed him the bag of breadsticks, which he immediately dug into.

"That workout must have made you hungry," she noted, "So you do this every week?"

Gohan nodded. "I deliver newspapers on Sundays and then my dad takes me on a three mile hike in Mount Pizao on weekdays," he explains.

Jenny eyes widened. "Really?" she asked, "That sounds rough...though I guess the scenery must be nice." Gohan nodded. "You know…" Jenny continued, "You don't have to do all this training. I'm sure your parents would understand if you asked them to ease up on you or push it off until you're older."

"I know," he said as he finished up on the breadsticks, "But I like training with my dad."

Jenny slammed on the breaks as they reached a stoplight. "You actually like this crazy workout routine your dad has you on?" she questioned.

"Yeah. It's what I asked for my birthday," he said, "It's difficult, but I get to spend a lot of time with him and Steven, and I can't wait until he teaches me some martial arts techniques." "My mom doesn't want me to be fight monsters, and I kind of don't want to either, but I want to be strong like him one day," he explained, "But I appreciate the break. Running back to the temple after this is always the hardest."

"No problem, kiddo," she said.

"Hey can you drop me off a little ways away? My dad might be a little upset if he finds out I kind of cheated in my training," he explained.

"Sure," she said as she pulled up to the beginning of the boardwalk. She dropped him off there and waved him off. "See ya, kid!" she said, "Let me know if you ever need another ride, or more breadsticks, ok?"

"Ok!" he responded, "See ya." he then headed off back to the temple. Jenny smiled. Maybe Sour Cream was right. That kid's life wasn't normal, but then again, neither was he. And if he could handle all that then she could handle dealing with her own problems.


	33. Ocean Gem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this was a long time coming. Anyways, enjoy!

The people of beach city gathered at the shore line, or what used to be the shoreline. Now it was just a huge bowl of sand. The people were in a state of shock and panic, the Mayor trying to calm them with a bullhorn. "Great," Vegeta hummed, "On top of tracking down a body of water, now we have to deal with the humans…"

"Look! It's those strange fighters! Maybe they can help us!" Mayor Dewey called, running up to them, "What's going on?"

"The ocean is gone, obviously," Piccolo stated bluntly.

"That's right. Now it's just a desert. No one wants to take a vacation to... Desert City!" he cried, "Aww, we're gonna lose all our summer business!"  
"And all the beach babes! Awwww!" Lars lamented.

"Who's gonna buy my fries?" Mr. Fryman asked.

"And my pizza!" Kofi added.

"Who's gonna have fun at Funland?" Mr Smiley demanded.  
"How about the people already living here," Piccolo stated.  
Mayor Dewey walked up towards Vegeta who was at the front of the group. "As mayor, I DEMAND you explain this immediate-" he started, shouting into the bullhorn, but was cut off by Vegeta grabbing it and crushing it.

The shorter Saiyan glared at the balding mayor. "If you do that again, I swear to Kami I will-" he growled before Piccolo pushed passed him.

"People of Beach City," he announced, "You all need to calm down. A being called Lapis Lazuli took the ocean but we are determined to get it back. For now, the most you can do is just go back to your daily business, got it?" Everyone seemed concerned at first but they soon dispersed as they headed back into the city. With that the Z fighters headed back to the temple to come up with a plan.

…..

"Alright, I finished calling Krillin, Tien, and the others," Goku said, hanging up, "They'll call us if they spot anything."

"I still wonder what that mirror was doing in the attic in the first place," Piccolo noted.

"Well when we built the house we had to move a lot of human stuff from the treasure room to make sure we had what we needed to take care of Steven," Goku explained.

"I get that part, but it had to have come from somewhere," Piccolo snapped, "Why did Rose of all people have it?"

"This Lazuli person might have been a war criminal," Vegeta suggested, "or she could have found it after the war and not have known if the gem were corrupt or not. Though if it were me, I wouldn't have kept it around if I had any suspicions." "It doesn't matter now really," Vegeta continued, "All that matters is getting rid of that rock and getting back our ocean."

It was then that they noticed that Gohan and Steven were packing bags. "What are you two doing?" Connie asked as they headed for the door.

We're leaving to fix what we did to our home. We were the ones who set Lapis free from the mirror. Now it's our fault the ocean's gone. We're gonna bring the ocean back or get really thirsty trying," Steven said.

"Who knows. Maybe if we just talk to her, we can figure this out!" Gohan added, "Lapis can be nice. If we figure out why she took the ocean, then maybe we can solve the problem."  
"Oh no, you're not," Piccolo said, "If you go out there alone, you'll die. We're coming too."

"Count me in," Greg said with a smile.

"Me too," Connie added, "It's weird being in your house when you're not around."

"RAH" Lion said placing his paw on Steven's head. Steven smiled.

"Hey! What did I say about having that thing in the temple!" Vegeta snapped.

….

After receiving a call from Kame house about the ocean's whereabouts, the group set off. Connie and Steven rode on Lion. Vegeta flew, Gohan and Goku rode on the nimbus, and Piccolo sat shotgun in Greg's van.

Inside the van there was an awkward silence between the pair. Greg glanced at the Namekian who sat straight faced and arms crossed, staring off of into the distance. "So…." Greg started, "How about some tunes?" Piccolo glanced at him before looking away without a word. "...I'll take that as a yes," he said as he slipped a CD into the player, "This was one of Rose's favorites." Loud rock music started playing. Piccolo's shoulders suddenly tensed and he gritted his teeth at the offensive sound.

Piccolo's hand flew to the eject button and the music stopped. There was a brief pause. "...Greg," he started, "If I had money, I would pay you to never play that again."

"O-ok…" he said apologetically.

When they finally got close they saw a huge pillar of water before them. Piccolo got out of the car as the Saiyans landed.

"Woah…" Connie said as the children approached it, "It's like a giant aquarium!"

"There's a sunfish!" Gohan pointed out "And a sailfish! And a Manta ray!"

Suddenly there was a low rumble. "You shouldn't be here!" a voice boomed.

"She sensed us!" Piccolo announced.

"No duh," Vegeta retorted.  
"Lapis Lazuli!" Steven called, "it's me, Steven!"

"And Gohan!" the half-Saiyan chimed in.

The water shifted before Lapis' face appeared in it. "Go away, before I make you," she warned.  
"But we're beach-summer-fun buddies!" Steven argued.

"We want to help you! Honest!" Gohan pleaded.

"No you don't!" she snapped, "You're one of them. The first chance you get, you'll put me away again or worst!"

"We won't! We promise!" Steven assured.

"I'm not promising anything…"Vegeta grumbled, to which Goku elbowed him in the shoulder.

"Just leave me alone…" Lapis said.

"We're not leaving, Lapis. Not until you give us back our ocean!" Steven demanded, confidence clear in his voice.  
That confidence dissipated, however, when a water clone of Steven stepped out of the pillar. "I said…" she started, before making the clone push Steven back, "Leave me alone!"

Goku caught Steven as he was flung backwards. The three warriors prepared to fight as new water clones formed shaped like them and Gohan.

"Greg, kids, you stay behind us. We'll handle this," Goku stated as he set Steven down. "Steven, You keep them safe, alright?" he said to the boy. Steven nodded and ran back to the van.

"Stand together," Piccolo said, "Don't let them separate-" He was cut off, however, by his double punching him in the gut. "Ow…" he grunted as he hit a formerly underwater rock formation.

The other water clones sprung into action. Goku launched himself at his and they met in the center, punching each other in the cheek. He then started throwing more punches at the doppelganger, but it blocked each and every one. "You know, this is actually a pretty great training routine!" Goku noted.

"Stop messing around Kakarot! This isn't a game!" Vegeta shouted at him from his own battle. he as well was matching his aqueous opponent move for move. Finally, the clone managed to land a blow on him, punching him in the stomach and sending him flying back. He growled as he got up. "That's it!" he snapped, raising his palm up. "Galic gun!" he shouted, firing a purple blast from his hand.

The beam of energy shot straight through the water clone, leaving a gaping hole.

Vegeta smirked as the clone raise a hand to the hole. His smirk faded, however, when the hole was filled in by more water.

"Really? That's just not fair…" he muttered.

Piccolo wasn't fairing much better. It didn't matter what he threw at the clone, ki blasts, punches, rocks, or anything else, they always managed to miss. As he fired ki blasts at his double, he became more agitated as it slipped and slided out of the way of each attack.

"Grr…STOP DODGING!" he shouted as he continued his assault. Suddenly he was knocked over as Goku slammed into him, having been thrown by his opponent. "Not you!" he grumbled as he shoved the Saiyan off of him.

For Steven, things were even worse. He had managed to fight off his own, but Gohan's was another story. It was much faster than his. The double had tried to drown the three children, until greg slammed into it with his van...to which the clone reformed along with Steven's and threw the van at a rock.

"Dad!" Steven cried as he ran towards the upturned van, "Are you alright?!"

"Oh…" he moaned as his son helped him out of the van, "I think my leg's broken."

As Steven helped his father, Connie and Gohan backed up as the water clones advanced on them. Gohan's fists were shaking as he decided he had enough. He was scared, soaked, and hurt. "Stay BACK!" he cried, flinging his hand up. In the process of doing so, a large ball of ki energy spouted from his hand and hit his double, evaporating it.

Steven looked up to notice his own double prepared to attack them. It flung water bombs at him. "That's enough!" he cried, summoning his shield, "We don't want to fight!" The water bombs hit the shield, causing it to resonate and all the water clones dispersed. He and Gohan walked up to the pillar of water.

"We're coming up Lapis...so please don't drown us!" he said. A hand lowered down from the top of the tower to the bottom and Gohan and Steven stepped up onto it.

They were elicited through the pillar until they reached the edge of the atmosphere.

They gasped as they exited the pillar and found themselves face to face with Lapis Lazuli who was glaring at them.

"What are you two doing here?" she demanded.

"What? I - No! What are you doing here? This thing, the ocean, this is crazy!" Steven pleaded.

"We really never wanted to hurt you," Gohan said, "Can't we just talk this out?"

"Don't you know anything? Your friends, they don't really care about Gems. All they care about is the Earth," Lapis said getting angry.

"But that's because it's their home!" Gohan argued.

"But it's not mine!" she said, releasing them from their bubbles. She looked up to the stars sadly. "I just want to go home," she explained, "I'm only using the ocean because my gem is cracked. If I just stretch it far enough…" She sighed, "This is never going to work."

"Hey, It'll be alright…" Steven assured, "We can figure something out….like….oh! I know!" He then turned to Gohan. "Gohan, do you think she can borrow the flying nimbus?" he asked.

The little boy nodded before summoning it. The little yellow cloud spiraled around the tower before reaching them. "You have to be careful though. Nimbus doesn't always let people ride it," Gohan explain.

Lapis pressed her hand against it only to have it fall through it. The look of hope that had been on her face crumbled into disappointment. "It's ok," Gohan assured, patting her back, "not everyone can ride it. Mr. Piccolo and Vegeta can't and neither can some of my Dad's friends." Suddenly Gohan got an idea. "Steven, Your healing powers!" Gohan said, "Maybe you can fix her gem with them!"

"You think so?" Steven said, perking up.

"It's worth a shot," Gohan said.

"Ok then!" Steven said, "Lapis, turn around. This might feel a little weird."  
"ok…" she said turning around, nervously. With that, Steven locked his palm and placed it over her gem. She shivered before light exuded from her gem and a pair of aquios wings unfurled from her back.

"Woah…" they breathed simultaneously.

Lapis turned to them smiling, eyes no longer like mirrors. "Thank you, Steven! Gohan!" she cheered.

"No prob, bob," Steven said, still in awe.

Lapis stared at them in confusion. "It's a phrase," Gohan explained. Lapis nodded in understanding.

"Well, goodbye then," she said taking off.

The two boy watched her leave for a second, waving at her. Then a low rumble shook the Pilliar. "It's returning back to liquid form!" Gohan shouted.

"Quick! Get on the nimbus!" Steven responded. Without a second thought they hopped on and raced down the tower.

….

The Z fighters could feel the rumbling as the tower began to collapse. "Did they do it?" Goku asked.

"Apparently. Look!" Piccolo cried. They all looked up to see the pillar of water falling apart. "Get everyone into the van!" Piccolo ordered.

"What about Gohan and Steven?" Goku asked.

"I see them! They're up there!" Vegeta shouted. The two boys were riding on the nimbus.

"Then let's get out of here! Move!" Piccolo commanded. Goku picked up lion, while the two other Z fighters picked up the van containing the two humans and flew off with Steven and Gohan, Dodging chunks of the pillar as they did so.

…

Amethyst had been resting under a dock. When she first showed up at this town that morning, she had noticed the tall wooden structure that dropped off into the sandy area beyond. She had no idea why the people of this planet set up a loft at the edge of this desert, but she wasn't complaining. It was nice having so much shade… that was until she was suddenly doused with water.

Amethyst shot up awake as she realized she was surrounded by salt water. She swam up to the surface where looked out and saw the spontaneous body of water stretched out for miles around. Where did all this come from?!

…

When the Z fighters and the children reached shore, they were greeted by a mass of people. Mayor Dewey ran up to Steven and Gohan and started hugging them and the crowd cheered Steven's name. Everyone seemed happy.

...Everyone except the Z Fighters that is. "So...Lapis made it off planet…" Piccolo stated.

"Must have. There's no way the boy would kill her," Vegeta responded.

"Do you think she will come back?" Goku asked.

"I hope not," Piccolo said glaring at the sky, "Because if she does, I think we'll have bigger problems to worry about than just her."


	34. A day at Fun Land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this takes place after joy ride.

"Guys! I have great news!" Steven said running through the door. The three Z fighters looked up and stopped their various activities.

"What is it?" Goku asked, "Did you learn how to perform a ki blast?"

"No," Steven responded.

"Did you figure out where Peridot is hiding?" Vegeta asked.

"No…" Steven replied.

"Did you gain a new gem power?" Piccolo asked.

"There are more? I mean, no, It's not that either," Steven said, "I was talking to Mr. Smiley, and he said that because you guys saved the town from Lapis and then later when Peridot and Jasper came back, he's willing to unban you guys from the arcade! Isn't that wonderful?" Mr. Smiley had banned the four warriors a while back when Steven had first introduced them to it. While Piccolo had for the most part behaved, Vegeta and Goku had gotten extremely competitive when Steven introduced them to the two players games, and caused huge amounts of damage from accidentally ripping out controllers and punching the machines when they got frustrated. They spent the entire night at the arcade. Eventually, they left when the city was attacked by a giant monster.

The Z fighters looked disinterested. "Yeah… Great…" Piccolo said.

"Honestly I couldn't care less," Vegeta stated, "Although it was an interesting experience, I can't bother wasting my time there when we have bigger problems to worry about."

"Aw, come on Vegeta!" Steven said, "It'll be fun!...So long as we don't break anything again…" Steven said. He then turned to Piccolo. "Your'll come, won't you Piccolo?" Steven asked.

"Afraid not kid," Piccolo said, "No offence, but the arcade isn't exactly my idea of fun."

"Aw…." Steven bemoaned, shoulders slumping.

"Hey, It's ok Steven," Goku said, hopping off the table, "I'll come with you!"

"Really?" the boy chirped, cheering up.

"Sure," Goku replied, "Let's go!"

….

They entered through the door of the arcade and Steven led Goku towards the back. "Although we are allowed back in, I think maybe we should start off with something less competitive: like ski-ball!" he explained, "The point of the game is to roll the ball up the ramp and into one of the holes. and you can get tickets for-" Steven was cut short as Goku suddenly stopped. Steven looked up to see the Saiyan's eyes were wide with surprise. "Hey is something wrong?" Steven asked. Goku pointed to the ski-ball machines where they saw someone sitting on top of one and shoving the balls into the 1000 point hole. She was purple with wild white hair like Jasper's and messy clothing. But the thing that made Steven's jaw drop was the purple gem stone on her chest.

"She-She's a gem!" Steven cried.

The purple gem looked up to see the pair staring at her. "What? I'm just trying to win an airplane!" she said. Steven smiled. This gem may look a bit like Jasper, but she certainly didn't act like her.

Goku's brows knit togethers slightly. "Who are you?" he asked, though his voice was still calm.

"Name's Amethyst," she said, "Now who are you guys? You kinda look familiar…"

"My name's Goku. Were you on the spaceship that crashed here a month ago?" Goku questioned.

"A spaceship? Haven't seen one of those...Unless you count the blue rocket they have at the prize counter," Amethyst retorted, still looking them over. Goku relaxed slightly at that. "What about you, runt?" she directed to Steven, "You got a name, or do I get to make one up for you? I hope the answer's no, 'cause honestly, making one up for you would be so much more fun."

Steven gave a snort of amusement. "It's Steven," he said.

She suddenly snapped her fingers. "Oh I know! You were some of the guys from the Kindergarten!" she exclaimed, "Cool! I didn't think I'd run into you again." Goku's eyes suddenly widened again before he started glaring at her. He took up a fighting stance. "Woah, what's your deal?" she asked, "You look like I just spat in your face, dude."

"You're from the kindergarten!" he bit out. Steven looked between them with worry. Was Goku going to attack her? He hoped not. This gem didn't seem so bad.

"Yeah, well that's where all gems are from," she said rolling her eyes, "What, do you expect gems to just rain down from the sky?"

"There isn't supposed to be any more gem production on Earth," he said in a low voice. "You're coming with us!" Goku ordered, "You're going to show us whatever's going on in the kindergarten, and you're going to help us shut it down!"

Amethyst looked at them in confusion. Then she started snickering before bursting out laughing. Her laughter died down as she noticed Goku was still glaring at her. "Oh wow, you were serious?" she said, still grinning in amusement, "Sorry, guy, but I can't help you there."

"Whether or not you want to help us, you're still coming with us!" Goku said, ready to lunge at her, "I won't let you hurt this planet."

Steven was about to jump in the way when a voice rang out. "Hey!" Mr. Smiley shouted, running towards them, "What's going on here? There's no fighting allowed in my arcade!" Goku stopped and turned to look at the man.

"And there's my cue to leave!" Amethyst said, summoning a whip from her gem. Goku and Steven turned to her, but before they could do anything, she used it to grab a pipe attached to the ceiling and swing over their heads. "Sorry, fellas!" she said as she ran out of the arcade, "But I gotta go. You can keep the tickets though!"

Before Mr. Smiley could berate them anymore, the two raced after her. Goku was determined to catch her, while Steven was determined to make sure his guardian didn't hurt her. When they ran out of the arcade, they looked around to see which way she went. Despite how well her purple skin might stick out, the couldn't find her anywhere.

"Darn it! She got away!" Goku huffed, "How did she do that? We were right behind her!"

"Goku…" Steven asked, "What are we going to do now? Is the kindergarten really up and running again?"

Goku's features became less angry as he looked down at the boy. "I don't know," he stated simply, "but we have to tell the others."

….

"There's no way the kindergarten is back up and running that quickly," Vegeta assured, "Gems take years to grow. If Peridot managed to turn the kindergarten on, we wouldn't be seeing gems popping up like this for a while."

Steven relaxed. "So we don't have to worry about her, right?" he said.

"I never said that," Vegeta responded, turning to Steven, "If anything we have more to worry about. We don't know where this gem came from or what her purpose is. Heck, we don't even know if she's the only other gem here. There could be a whole army we don't know about…"

"But she didn't have a diamond on her chest like Jasper or Peridot," Steven argued, "That means she's not with homeworld, right?"

"Yes but that doesn't mean she's not bad news for us," Piccolo answered, "There are plenty of people who act out maliciously of their own accord and abide by no code. There are pirates, con artists, psychopaths...people who may have nothing against you except that you stand between them and whatever their goal is. Just because she's not on their side, doesn't mean she's on ours." Steven looked down at that.

"So are we going after her first, or are we still going after Peridot?" Goku asked, leaning on the kitchen table.

"Let's keep following what few leads we have with Peridot before they go cold," Piccolo answered, "We don't know where to start with this new gem and there's no point in running around in circles when there's an actual threat with a trail to follow. If we find her along the way, we'll deal with her then."

The Z fighters nodded in agreement. Steven frowned as he walked up stairs. Amethyst really didn't seem that bad, and she hadn't tried to hurt anyone. Why were they so ready to paint her as a bad guy? For her sake, he hoped they didn't run into her again soon.


	35. Keep Calm

It had started out as a normal mission. They were hunting through the redwood forests in California. A lot of the locals thought they had seen a sasquatch, but the damage the beast had caused stated otherwise. Several trees had been uprooted and campers had been raided. To cover more ground, they decided to split up. This was a momentous occasion, because the first time the z fighters allowed Steven to go it alone.

The boy was practically skipping with excitement as he searched the forest. He was so excited, that he almost didn't notice the rustling bushes as he passed them. Steven stopped and turned to look at them. There was not a single sound until a figure stepped out of the brush carrying a bike wheel under their arm.

"Amethyst!" Steven exclaimed, a smile gracing his face.

The gem turned to look at him. "Hey runt," she said with a smile, "Whatcha doing all the way out here?"

"We're looking for a gem beast. It's been tearing up the area and stealing food. Do you know anything about that?" he asked.

"Tearing up the woods? No," she said, "Stealing food...that's probably me actually."

Steven's eyes widened. "What? Why are you doing that?" he questioned, "Don't you know that stealing is wrong?"

"Hey, it ain't my fault they leave their doors unlocked," she defended, "Besides, if I don't steal from them, a bear will, and honestly, you don't want to run into a hungry bear. Really, I'm doing them a favor."

"It's still wrong to steal…" Steven muttered, "Don't tell me you stole the bike wheel too!"

"Don't get all uppity," Amethyst brushed him off, "I got this thing from a junk yard. You guys throw away some pretty awesome stuff!"

"Well I guess that's ok…" Steven reasoned. "So what have you been up to besides stealing food?" he asked

Amethyst was about to answer, when suddenly, they heard a voice. "Hey Steven! We caught the monster!" Goku called.

"Uh-oh!" Steven whispered, "Amethyst, you need to get out of here!" He began pushing her away when the three warriors stepped out of the brush.

"Hey, who were you talking-" Goku started before laying eyes on Amethyst. The three warriors gave her blank stares. "It's the gem!" he announced before taking up a fighting stance. Vegeta and Piccolo followed suit.

Amethyst grinned while Steven looked panicked. "No guys, it's alright! She's not trying to hurt anyone!" Steven said, standing in front of her, "You don't need to-WAH!"

Amethyst suddenly grabbed Steven and picked him up. "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" she shouted while grinning like a maniac before chucking the boy at them. The Z fighters were caught off guard by the sudden weaponized Steven and Goku stumbled back into the other two as he caught him. She then ran off laughing.

"After her!" Piccolo shouted. Goku, set Steven down as they charged after the purple gem.

"Guys! wait up!" Steven called as he chased after them. The Z fighters tracked her back to the warp pad.

"See ya, freaks!" Amethyst said, sticking her tongue out at them as she activated the warp pad. She disappeared in the beam of light as the warriors caught up to her. Thankfully, they were right on her tail and were able to hop in the stream along with her. Piccolo grabbed Steven as they did so. When they landed they found themselves in the kindergarten with the purple gem nowhere to be found.

"Damn it, we lost her!" Piccolo growled before sighing. "Well she couldn't have gone far. Let's split up and look for her," he said, "Goku, You come with me. Vegeta, you go with Steven. We'll check the walls while you can search the canyon floor." The two Saiyans nodded before they split up.

"Come on, boy," Vegeta said, grabbing Steven before flying down to the bottom of the ravine, "Let's find this purple annoyance so we can get back to our real problems."

"So you don't think Amethyst is a threat?" Steven asked, "Cause if she's not then we can just leave her be!"

"I never said that," Vegeta responded, "She's just not our biggest threat at the moment. I'm sure if we gave her time she could cause some trouble, though."

"But what if we give her time and she actually does some good things instead?" Steven said, "I mean she's not perfect, but neither are you."

"Yes, and your mother barely let me out of her sight until she was sure she could trust me," the Saiyan retorted, tail swishing in annoyance, "If she had just let me roam the Earth, things would have ended up very different."

Steven frowned. "Different how?" he asked, "What would have happened if mom hadn't looked after you?"

Vegeta suddenly stopped, shoulders becoming tense.

Steven looked at him with worry. "Vegeta?" he asked, "Are you ok?"

"Shh!" the Saiyan hissed as he crouched down to look at something on the ground. He motioned steve forward and the child approached him. "Steven," he whispered, "What do you see here?" The Saiyan pointed to the ground in front of him. There was a somewhat ovular imprint in the dirt.

"It looks like a footprint," Steven said, bending down to look at it.

"Good, and who do we know that makes a footprint like that?" he asked.

Steven wracked his brain for the answer before his eyes widened in realization. "Peridot!" he exclaimed. Vegeta promptly placed a hand over Steven's mouth before shushing him again.

"Shut up! This canyon has an echo effect. If she's still here, she might hear you!" he hissed.

"Sorry…" Steven mumbled.

Vegeta nodded before standing up. "Let's see if we can find more," he said.

Steven nodded and the two searched around the small area. They couldn't find anymore heading farther in the direction the foot had been going, however. "She must have left already…" Vegeta growled slamming his fist against a rock, "She must have flew off some how."

"Hey, don't feel too bad!" Steven assured, "We can still figure out what she was doing here by…" He then gestured to a set of footprints leading up to the one they had found. "...Retracing her steps!" Steven said.

Vegeta grinned slightly and walked over to him. "If that wasn't such a terrible pun, I might just be proud of you right now," he said, walking passed Steven to follow the trail.

"Aw come on," Steven said following him, "That one was...punderful!"

"If I hear another pun out of you today, you're grounded."

….

The two followed the trail back to the spot where the robonoid had lead them the last time they were here. "Great…not this place again…" Vegeta muttered.

"Oh no! Was she trying to start up the kindergarten again?" Steven asked.

"I don't think so," he said, "Look around you. See those machines? Don't you think they would be up and running if that were the case?"

"So what was she doing down there?" Steven asked.

"Good question," Vegeta said, before punching the elevator panel and sending it careening down the shaft. He then picked up Steven. "Let's find out," he stated before flying down.

….

Once they reached the bottom of the shaft, they found the room where they had first fought Peridot. It was dimly lit and looked decrepit. Stone cylinders sat against the wall. "Is it just me or is this place creepier than it was before?" Steven said looking around. Vegeta didn't respond as created a ball of ki in his hand, illuminating the room better.

He walked over to the cylinders and started examining them. "So what were you actually doing down here…" he muttered.

Steven couldn't shake an ominous feeling he was getting as he looked around the room. "Maybe we should leave…" he said.

"Quit whining," Vegeta responded as he examined the stone pillar, "We can leave when we actually learn something."

"Ok…" the boy responded. It was then that Steven felt something drop onto his back. "WAH!" he cried, leaping into the air before stumbling into Vegeta, "Something just touched my back!"

"Get off!" the Saiyan growled, pulling Steven off of him. "Now what are you on about?" he asked, a little more calmly.

Steven pointed to the spot where he had been standing previously. There was something lying on the ground. Vegeta's eyes widened before he shone a light on it. What they saw was a disembodied hand attached to a foot. "The hell…" Vegeta mumbled as he walked over to it and picked it up by a finger. The hand-foot squirmed and emitted some kind of noise as he brought it to eye level. He promptly dropped in surprise. "It's alive?!" he hissed as he stepped back from it.

They heard more noise and looked up to see more disembodied body parts crawling along the ceiling. They began to drop down and the two began to back up as they crawled towards them.

"What are these things?!" Steven cried, "Where are they coming from?" Vegeta didn't respond. He was paralyzed with disgust. Usually he had no problem seeing disembodied limbs, but the noises those things made, they way they moved…it was just wrong!

He snapped out of it when one touched his foot and he blasted it. It disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving behind a strangely shaped gem. "It's two gem shards…" Steven observed, "stuck together!"

Before either of them could say anything else, a rumbling came from the stone pillar behind them. They turned and saw it crack as light began to pour out of it. A gem and a figure crawled out. The white light separates into several figures for a moment. The light image glitched out and screaming could be heard until the forms dissipated into one large form. It was a giant, black, hand-like shape. Eyes covered its surface, and each finger hand another hand on the end. The two looked on at it in fear. Vegeta's tail stood rigid and his shoulders tensed as he stared into his many eyes. "Vegeta!" Steven shouted as it reached out and grabbed the Saiyan.

He struggled against its grip. "Get off me…" he growled a glowing ball of ki grew in his hand, "GET OFF!" He fired at the gem mutant's center, causing a large explosion. The creature disappear in a puff of smoke, leaving only an amalgamation of gem shards behind.

Vegeta panted, calming himself down. "Vegeta, are you alright?" Steven asked, running up to him.

"I've seen a lot of horrible things...even participated in a few…" he muttered under his breath, "But to do something like this to one's own kind is worse than anything I could have imagined…" The amalgamation of gem shards began to glow again. Vegeta immediately blasted it with as much power as he could muster. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left besides a pile of ash.

Steven looked at him in shock. "Wh-why did you do that?!" he cried, "We could have helped it!"

"I am helping them," he said darkly, calm and collected once again, "There's no way to fix them, so I'm putting them out of their misery."

"B-but killing is wrong," he argued weakly.

"These gems were shattered. They're as good as dead already," he stated bluntly as he destroyed another one.

Suddenly, Goku and Piccolo flew down the shaft and landed in front of them. "We couldn't find Amethyst, but we heard an explosion. What happened," Piccolo asked as he surveyed the situation.

"Gross!" Goku said, moving away from one of the body parts, "What the heck are these things?"

"They're gem shards stuck together," Vegeta replied grimly, "The gems have been using this place as a way to make these Frankenstein's monsters."

The two other Z fighters gave disturbed looks. "Why?" Piccolo asked.

"I don't know," Vegeta said, "But whatever it is, it can't be good."


	36. Mutant Chocolate

Amethyst strolled through the kindergarten with a huge pile of candy in her arms. She couldn't believe those humans would just leave those display cases with flimsy glass outside! She may have had to out run those humans in blue to get her hands on these babies, but it was worth it. All she had to do now was get them back to her stash. She licked her lips at the thought of sinking her teeth into them.

As she continued along, she heard the distant sound of moaning. She stopped and turned to look around, but when she she saw nothing, she shrugged and continued on her way. She whistled das she went along, until she bumped into something. Her pile of candy spilled onto the ground and she fell over. "Hey! Watch where you're-" she started, but cut herself off as she saw who she had bumped into.

She looked up to see a drooling, angry, and vaguely humanoid shape. Its body was mostly grey with many multicolored appendages sticking out of it, some ending in feet, others in hands, and some in nothing. It had one large eye and several smaller ones, with a gem shard sticking out of one of the sockets. It roared angrily at her as it loomed over her, its maw filled with dangerous, sharp teeth.

Amethyst stared up at it blankly for a moment, blinking in surprise. "Woah…" she she breathed, "You do not look happy…" The gem mutant took a few step towards her. Its face was inches from her. "Hey buddy," she said, "You need to back it up." She pushed its face away from hers before picking up a candy bar from the ground. "Want a snickers?" she asked, offering it to the beast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so short. Also sorry, but this is going to be the last we hear from Amethyst for a while.


	37. Maximum Capacity

"Hey dad!" Steven called.

Greg looked up from organizing some boxes in the storage unit as he heard his son's approach. "Hey, Stuball!'" he called as the boy rounded the corner, "How's it going? I hear Goku and the others have been keeping you busy with your martial arts training."

"Yeah! They said I'm finally ready to start learning how to control spirit energy!" Steven explained excitedly, "Soon I'll be able to fire Ki blasts and maybe get to learn one of their special moves, like the Galic Gun or the Kamehameha wave!"

A look of concern flashed over Greg's face, before his smile reappeared. "That's great Steven!" he explained, "So with all that training, do you think you're strong enough to help your old man clear this thing out?"

"Yeah! I even brought someone along to help!" Steven said.

Greg looked confused until he heard a gruff voice say, "Oh great...Steven, this is why I asked who you wanted me to help."

"Oh no…" Greg sighed as he turned to see the prince of Saiyans glaring at him. "Oh...Hey, Vegeta...How's it been?" he offered.

"Cold, dreary, and annoyingly loud seeing as a few of you humans find it necessary to blow your hands off several days prior to when the planet actually finishes another circle around the sun," he quipped, folding his arms.

Greg scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, I guess some people just get really into the festivities," he reasoned.

"Hn," the Saiyan simply replied. There was a few minutes of silence before Steven spoke up. "Well, how about we get started? The storage room isn't going to clean itself!" he said tugging on Vegeta's hand. The Saiyan didn't budge.

"On second thought, Steven, I'm going to take a rain check on this," Vegeta said turning to walk away, "There's probably some monster somewhere that needs fighting and I don't need to waste my time in a mildew encrusted storage facility."

Greg sighed in relief but Steven frowned. "Aw, Come on Vegeta, it'll be fun!" he called as the Saiyan started walking away. He picked up a cardboard box with the word burn written on the side. "Please? If you help, you can burn whatever we decide to throw away!" he coaxed.

The saiyan stopped for a moment before sighing. He then turned around and started walking back towards them. "Alright then. I'll help," he agreed.

Steven cheered in excitement while Greg inwardly groaned. This was going to be a long day.

…..

"This place is a disaster," Vegeta complained as he picked up another stack of boxes, "I swear, it's worse than the wretched pig stye Kakarot calls a room, and I know for a fact that there's still clothing in there that's been left unwashed since he was eight."

"Well, it's not like I've been here for a while, and I don't exactly have another place to put this stuff," Greg reasoned.

"Still doesn't explain why you have half of this junk…" Vegeta continued, "What even is this thing?!" Greg turned to see him holding up a daruma doll with one eye painted in.

"Oh, I think that was a wedding gift from one of Goku's friends actually…" he explained, "I think it was-"

"So are you going to keep it?" the prince asked nonchalantly, cutting him off.

"Of course I'm going to keep it! It was a thoughtful gift!" Greg stated, slightly offended.

"Yeah, I'm sure it holds some great memories," Steven added from where he was sorting through boxes. Vegeta shrugged and threw the doll over his shoulder.

….

"So do you want to sell or toss this old speaker," Vegeta asked as he held up a cobweb covered, decades old speaker, "I know you have better equipment now and it's probably rotted out so there's no point in keeping it."

"Well I don't know," Greg said, "I actually might want to hang onto it...ya know, for sentimental reasons. It was one of my first speakers after all." Vegeta raised an eyebrow at the man as he set the speaker back on a box.

"Uh oh," Steven announced. Greg and Vegeta turned to where Steven was crouched over looking at something.

"What is it? Did you step on a nail or something?" Greg asked in concern.

"No," Steven said, "But I think your photo of mom broke…" he turned around to show them the picture in the broken frame.

"Darn...Well, at least the picture itself is fine. I guess we'll have to get a new frame for it," Greg sighed.

"You shouldn't have left something so important out where it could get damaged in the first place," Vegeta chastised, "Honestly, Universe. Take better care of your things."

"Hey, accidents happen!" Steven intervened, "It's alright."

Vegeta hummed a response before turning and walking back over to the other side of the storage shed. Greg and Steven went back to sorting when they heard a loud crash. They both turned to see the broken speaker on the ground with Vegeta turned away from it, picking through a box. "Woops," he said, not even turning around. Steven frowned and gave his dad a worried look. Greg just brushed it off with a forced smile.

…..

"Hey Dad, What are these VHSes for?" Steven asked, holding one up.

"Huh?" he said, "Oh I remember those! These were some old cheesey horror flicks Vidalia and I used to watch together. Vegeta used to even watch them with us at times!"

"Really?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, he liked to make fun of them and point out all the flaws. It was a little annoying at first but it became fun later on, and so we rented out old B-grade films to make fun of together for a little while," Greg explained.

"That's so cool!" Steven said, "I can't believe you guys used to hang out like that!"

"Yeah well…" Greg started, scratching the back of his head.

"That was a long time ago," Vegeta said, snatching the tapes and throwing them in the burn box. He then returned to what he was doing.

"Hey! Don't do that!" Steven scolded the Saiyan, picking the tapes out of the box, "Those are perfectly good tapes! What's wrong with you today? You're more irritable and rude than usual!" Vegeta didn't respond, but paused in his sifting to look over his shoulder at the boy briefly.

Greg sighed. "Listen, Steven," he said pulling a wallet out of his pocket, "It's getting late. How about you go and get us a few pizzas, alright?" "We'll be fine for a few minutes," he assured. Steven hesitated before taking the wallet and heading out the door. Greg waited a few moments before addressing Vegeta. "Look," he said, tone more serious, "I know you're never going to forgive me, but could you at least pretend not to hate my guts when Steven's around?"

Vegeta turned to him. "Sure, if I can figure out a way to pretend Rose is still around," he he said sarcastically.

"Look I'm sorry, ok!" he shouted, "I didn't know she was going to die! Do you think I would have agreed if I'd known?" "You're not the only one who cared about her," he continued.

"Of course I wasn't! What, do you think I'm some kind of blind idiot?" Vegeta snapped, "You may have loved her, but you didn't depend on her like we did. Rose wasn't just a friend to us. She was the closest thing to family any of us had! Heck, she was practically Kakarot and Piccolo's mother! She took care of us. She made us better, and we looked up to her for it." "Do you know what my life was like before she came around?" he continued his tirade, "It was worse than hell! In the entire universe there were only two people I could trust, both of which are most likely dead by now! Everyone else either feared me or were waiting for the moment I was deemed useless so they could get their hands on me. Meanwhile, you had a comfortable home for most of your life and anything you could have asked for!"

"Look I get it!" Greg retorted, "I get that Rose was important to you in ways I can't understand. But she meant a lot to me too."

"She wasn't just important to me, she was important to the planet!" he snapped, "She was this planet's defender. She protected it from greater threats than you could ever imagine, and now this place is wide open again for attack. The gems already have plans for the Earth again. Who's to say they aren't on their way here right now? Even if we can fight them off once, who's going to stop them when Kakarot and the rest of us are gone? She was the only one who could stand for the planet when all else fails and now we don't even have that!"

There was a long silence between the two. "...This isn't really about Rose and I anymore, is it?" Greg stated.

There was another long pause. The Saiyan's mouth opened and closed as he tried to argue back. He made a few more frustrated attempts before he finally gave up and sighed, leaning against a stack of boxes. "No…" he admitted, "It's just easier to blame it on you." "The truth is, even Rose wouldn't be able to solve our problem at this point. The gems are determined on coming to earth. Even if they don't know who we are yet, they'll find out soon enough. And what the gems know, Frieza finds out fairly quickly," he explained, "I've been kidding myself for years in thinking that training here on Earth would be enough to defeat him. It would take a literal legend to defeat him and we've barely surpassed Rose's power level now."

"So, what? Are you planning on going into space to train?" Greg asked, "Is that why you tried to build that space ship?"

Vegeta shook his head. "It was, but I forgot that I don't know how many more planets Frieza owns now," Vegeta explained, "Going out beyond the reaches of the solar system could get us all killed even faster If I'm spotted by a member of the Frieza Force. I'm trapped, both figuratively and literally!"

Greg nodded in understanding. "I assume we're not telling Steven about this," Greg said.

"He doesn't need this information on his mind if there's nothing we can do about it," Vegeta clarified, "We don't need him worrying his head off. Not only is it unnecessary, but his powers become unstable when he's emotionally compromised. We don't need that right now."

"Right…" Greg said, "...But it's perfectly ok to let me know about this?"

"Just because I don't like you, doesn't mean I don't trust you," he noted before smirking evilly, "Besides, seeing you lose sleep over this brings me a little peace."

"You're horrible, you know that?" Greg stated bluntly, to which the Saiyan shrugged.

"Tell me something I don't know," he responded, "I'll pay you back for the pizza, however. There's plenty of gold in the treasure room. I'll have Steven stuff a couple doubloons in your sell box so you can pawn it off to someone. I still don't get why you humans like it so much. It's useless and soft."

"It's pretty and rare?" Greg offered with a shrug.

"It's useless," Vegeta insisted as he turned back to cleaning out the storage unit. Greg sighed in relief as he felt the tension fully dissipate. It had been a long time since he could actually feel peace in a room when Vegeta was there. When Steven returned later, he was happy to find that the two were working together, or at least not arguing anymore. "I'm glad to see you guys getting along, I was actually worried you'd hurt each other if I left you alone," Steven said as they watched the fireworks.

Vegeta scoffed. "I might hurt him, but you'd have to be crazy to think he could lay a hand on me," he said.

"So do you want to watch one of those movies for old times sake?" Steven suggested.

"No," Vegeta stated bluntly, "I burned those movies. They were terrible."

"What?! But we took those out of the burn box! You can't just burn things without permission," Steven cried.

"Actually, your dad let me," he stated.

Steven looked to his father in surprise. "He's right. They were pretty bad," he explained with a smile and a shrug, "I'm not gonna miss them."


	38. Chill Time

The cherry blossoms fluttered across the school yard. Steven slumped in his seat, frantically writing a letter while Professor Piccolo's back was turned. He knew he probably should have been listening, but that's what he had Gohan for! The boy was amazing at taking notes, so he would just copy off of him later.

He had to get this written and delivered before the bell rang. If he didn't he might have to deliver it in person, which he didn't exactly have the courage for. Being rejected in person would be too much for him.

"Now can anyone tell me what gem is currently at the bottom of the ocean?" Professor Piccolo asked turning to the class. Steven smiled and looked up as he finished the letter with his signature. "Universe-kun? do you have the answer?" Piccolo called.

Steven blanched as attention was drawn to him. "Umm…" he stuttered. He glanced over to Gohan who was gesturing wildly to give him hints. He brought his hands to his hair to gesture for large hair before giving a fierce look and bringing his hands in front of him like claws. "...A-amethyst?" he guessed.

Gohan sweat-dropped at the answer and a few of the other class members chuckled. They stopped however when Piccolo glared at them. "No," he stated simply, "Please pay attention, Steven-kun." He then turned back to the board.

"Yes Piccolo-sensei," Steven muttered, sinking in his chair slightly.

Later, at the end of class, Steven walked up to his teacher's desk. "Excuse me, Piccolo-sensei," he said, "But my I be dismissed from class early?"

"Why?" he asked.

"Um…." Steven said, sweating nervously, "I have to use the bathroom."

"Can't you wait until after class?" he asked.

"No…"Steven said looking down. Piccolo looked at him before nodding. Steven smiled before running out of the room and dashing down the hall. Now all he had to do was find Connie's locker and tape the letter to it.

As he turned the corner a voice called him. "Halt!" the voice said. Steven turned to see Vegeta standing intimidatingly in the hallway. His black school uniform was sharp, only creasing where his arms were folded over his chest. black fingerless gloves covered his hands and his white hall monitor band was wrapped around his arm. Steven swallowed as the older student approached him. "What are you doing out in the hall so early? Where is your hall pass?" he demanded.

steven sweat-dropped as he realised he had forgotten to get a pass from his teacher. "I'm afraid I don't have one, Vegeta-senpai," Steven said looking at the ground. "Please don't write me up! I have something really important I need to do!" he pleaded, while bowing frantically.

"I'm sorry Steven-kun, but I don't make the rules. I just enforce them," he said unsympathetically as he pulled out his pad and pen.

"Nooo!" Steven whined, falling to his hands and knees, eyes watering. Now he not only might not be able to deliver his letter in time, but he'd have to explain to his father why he has a demerit note.

"Hey guys! What's up?" a voice called. The two looked up to see Goku, head of the foot ball (soccer) team walking towards them. His hands were behind his head casually and his uniform jacket was unbuttoned. His collar was popped and the top two buttons of his dress shirt was undone while his tie hung loose around his neck.

"Goku-senpai!" Steven cheered and his eyes sparkled as hope returned to them. "Please," he cried, running up to him, "You gotta convince Vegeta to let me off on a warning."

the older boy cocked his head to the side. "What's the hurry Steven-chan? Is your next class on the other end of the school?" he asked.

"No…" Steven said blushing and pulling out the letter, "I...have to deliver this to Connie's locker…"

A mischievous grin crossed the tall boy's face. "Ohhoho! So you worked up the courage to tell her how you feel!" he said messing with Steven's hair, "Alright I'll help you!" He then walked over to the shorter senior and threw an arm around his shoulder. "Come on, Vegeta-chan!" he said, "It's just his first year here. Can't you let him off easy?"

Vegeta growled and shoved him off of himself. "Don't call me that!" he snapped as an angry vein pulsed on his head, "And my answer is no, you baka!"

"Aw, don't be like that, Geets!" Goku said, holding his hands up defensively, "This is a matter of the heart here! Can't you be a little more lenient? What if it was you in his position?"

Vegeta gave him a startled look. "What are you prattling on about?" he asked.

"Don't play dumb!" Goku said with a wink, "We all know you've had your eye on that pretty bluenette student council girl for the past year! What if you were delivering a special letter to her? Would you want to be interrupted?"

Vegeta blushed and grumbled. "Fine…" he said, "You're off the hook, Universe."

Steven's eyes sparkled before he bowed to the two of them. "Oh, thank you! Thank you!" he chirped, "I owe you one! Both of you!" With that, the boy ran off.

Vegeta began scribbling on his pad again. Goku looked at him in confusion. "What are you doing, Geta?" he asked.

"If I can't write him up, I'll write you up instead!" he said with an evil smirk.

Goku staggered back in surprise. "What?!" he cried, "But I have a hall pass! look!" He held up his pass and pointed to it frantically.

"I'm not writing you up for being out of class," he said, tearing the page off and sticking it to the boy's chest, "I'm writing you up for dress code violations. I count at least three on you right now."

Goku sighed before crumbling to the ground in defeat. "You're cruel, Vegeta!" he whined, to which the other boy just smirked.

Steven continued on his quest, hurrying through the hall. However, as he got close to Connie's locker the bell rang and students flooded the hall. Steven pushed through the crowds of people, only to find her locker was open, and there was someone standing behind the door. Steven froze, unsure of what to do. He then took a breath and clenched his fists. "Go for it, Steven," he told himself, "It's now or never. Just give it to her and get out of there!" "Connie!" he cried as he ran towards the locker, "I have something for-"

He stopped as the locker door closed again, because Connie was not the one behind it. Instead it Lapis. Water was pouring from her eyes and mouth. "Lapis?" he questioned as the hallway went dark. Soon it was only he and Lapis standing in a black void as it filled with water. As it came up to his chin, Steven cried out as he shot up in his bed, breathing hard.

"What?! What is it?!" Goku shot up at the sudden noise from his place on the loft floor. Vegeta and Piccolo also sat up alert from where they had been sleeping. It was then that Steven remembered what was going on. After searching for malachite until after midnight, Steven had invited the Z fighters to sleep up in the loft with him. After a little convincing on Vegeta's part, they had all settled in for a much needed rest...until now.

The three looked around in their half awake states for whatever the impending danger might be. "Calm down! Everything's alright, I just had a crazy dream," Steven explained. Vegeta glared at him before muttering as he laid back down.

"Oh, ok," Goku said, "What was it about?"

"Well it was kind of weird, cause you guys were there, but you weren't like how you are now," Steven explained. "Oh! And Lapis was there," he remembered, "but she wasn't herself. I'm worried that she's not alright wherever she is."

"Relax, Steven," Piccolo said, "It was just a dream."

"You were probably just dreaming about her because we were hunting for Malachite," Vegeta assured as he laid down on the floor.

"Ok…" Steven said as he laid back down. He sighed as he closed his eyes again and drifted off.


	39. Bulma Battle Bots

When they first received news about the Cluster, the Z fighters had been understandably alarmed, but when the idea for building some kind of drill had been thrown onto the table, the had relaxed slightly. There was only one problem: Peridot was unfamiliar with earthtec and none of the Z fighters were experienced with engineering and mechanics. Vegeta had spent some time as child learning how to fix a spaceship, but that was years ago. Thankfully, there was a simple solution to this problem: Bulma. The crazy bluenette could build just about anything, so the first chance they got, they called her to fly over with her gear.

When she landed at the barn they had all been there to greet her. "Bulma!" Steven and Gohan cried as they rushed over to hug her.

"Hey squirts, how are things?" she responded, "Man, Gohan, you've grown quite a bit since I last saw you."

"Eh sorta good…" Steven responded with a shrug, "They could be better."

"We're kind of in a world endangering scenario right now," Goku explained, scratching the back of his head, "But how about you guys? Are you and Yamcha doing well?"

"I've been fine. I don't know about Yamcha. We broke up finally about six months ago," she said with a shrug. Goku looked surprised and Vegeta's eyebrows arched slightly.

"Really? Why's that?" Goku asked.

"We just kind of grew apart," she explained, "We were always too busy to really spend time together, so things just kind of fizzled out."

"He wasn't worth your time anyways," Vegeta said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Anyways, enough about that, let's get started on this project you need me for," she said, changing the subject.

Steven smiled. "Come on, I have someone I need to introduce you to!" he said, grabbing her hand. With that, he pulled her along to inside the barn. When they entered, They could hear someone rummaging around. "Peridot! We have Bulma now, so we can go ahead and get started!" he called.

The rummaging stopped as a triangular head pop out of the piles of junk. Peridot raised an eyebrow at the pair. "This is the technician you brought to help me?" she asked skeptically.

"Yeah! She's the greatest scientist in the world!" Steven exclaimed.

"And prettiest scientist," Bulma pointed out with a chuckle. She then stepped forward. "So you're the gem that tried to invade earth?" she asked, "You're a little shorter than I expected...and I thought Steven told me you had floating fingers."

"I did…" Peridot grumbled.

"She used to have these prothstetics that had floating fingers," Steven explained.

"Ah...cool. I wish I could have seen them," Bulma said, "I would have loved to examine the tec." "Anyways, I'm Bulma Briefs. Head of Capsule Corp and its development/research program," she said extending her hand.

Peridot just stared at it for a few moments. "You're supposed to shake her hand and introduce yourself," Steven explained.

"Oh," Peridot said, "I am Peridot. Professional Kindergartener."

Bulma gave her an odd look before turning to Steven. "That means she helped grow new gems," he explained. She nodded in understanding.

"Well, it'll be a pleasure to work with you. I'll get started on some blueprints for the drill and I'll tell you where to go from there," Bulma said. Peridot raised an eyebrow at her.

"Excuse me?" she said, "You can't design the drill! You're just a human."

Bulma turned to look at her in shock. "Well what am I here for than?" she questioned.

"I was under the impression that you would be simply help me find compatible materials from your primitive earth technology," Peridot stated. Steven and Gohan shared nervous looks.

"Primitive?!" Bulma repeated, putting her hands on her hips, "I'll have you know I was able to duplicate Saiyan armor in under one day, and am head of the leading company in human engineering! Do you call that primitive?"

"Considering you can't even make it out of your own solar system yet, YES!" Peridot snapped back. The two technicians glared at each other.

"Come on guys! Stop fighting!" Steven cried trying to split them up, "Can't you both work on designing it?"

"Sorry Steven, but I am no one's inferior, especially not to some pint sized invader!" Bulma snapped.

"And I don't take orders from lower life forms!" Peridot shouted back.

"Who are you calling lower, shrimp?!"

"Stop it!" Gohan shouted. The two turned to look at him in surprise. He looked embarrassed for a second for being put on the spot before speaking again. "The longer you two argue, the less time we have to get this done," he said, "There has to be some way to reach an agreement. Maybe you could have a competition to see who's more fit to lead the project?"

"You know...That's not a bad idea!" Bulma said.

"Yes...a competition would be a perfectly objective way to decide who's best fit to lead," Peridot said, stroking her chin, "But what test would be best…"

Steven gasped and his eyes lit up. "Robots…" he breathed, "You should build Giant Robots!"

"Robots…?" Peridot questioned.

"You know, like those sphere things you sent to earth!" he explained.

"Some advanced race…" Bulma muttered, "Don't even know what robots are." Peridot glared at her before turning her attention back to Steven.

"Anyways, you can have a Robolympics! You can build them, and then ride them, and race them, and and…" Steven continued, getting more excited.

"And which ever succeeds in the most events wins!" Gohan exclaimed.

"Alright, I'll take part in your 'Robolympics'," Peridot responded.

"When do we start?" Bulma asked.

"Right now!" Steven proclaimed, "Ready, Set, Go!" The two technicians ran into the barn and started working…

…

A couple hours later, Steven and Gohan were sitting outside the barn waiting for the two to finish up. It was then that Goku and Vegeta approached them.

"Hey you guys! We got lunch for you. Have you been working hard to help Bulma with the drill?" Goku said.

"No," Gohan said, "We haven't started on it yet actually." The two Saiyans looked at them in confusion.

"Bulma and Peridot can't decide who should design the drill so they're having a competition to see who can build the best robot to decided," Steven explained.

"That sounds completely pointless," Vegeta stated, "We don't know when the cluster will emerge. This competition is a waste of our time and resource-" He was cut off, however, as Bulma zoomed out in her Gundam style robot. Powerful rockets propelled the light blue humanoid mecha out of the barn as it rolled along. A couple light cannons were strapped to its back. The upper body resembled Saiyan armor in design. The head of the robot opened up and Bulma sat in the driver's seat with a confident smirk on her face.

Vegeta's mouth hung open slightly for a moment. "On second thought, Go ahead and have your robot competition…" he said.

"Really?" Gohan asked.

"Yes," Vegeta responded a slight smirk on his face, "I want to see where this goes."

…

For the next few hours, the two technicians showed off their creations in a variety of competitions judged by Steven, Goku, and Piccolo. The different rounds ranged from speed, to storability, to strength, to even dancing. Currently, the two were neck and neck and they were at their final round.

The two robots held trucks like foot balls, poised to toss them. "Ready, set, go!" Steven shouted. The two competitors chucked the vehicles as hard as they could. Both flew off into the distance and disappeared. The five observers watched the sky as they did so. "Anyone want to track those down?" Steven asked.

"Can we even?" Piccolo retorted.

"Well, then I guess you guys are at a tie," Steven proclaimed, "You'll both get to head the project."

"What?! No, I refuse!" Peridot shouted, "We can't just leave it at a tie! We have to have a final competition to decide a winner."

Bulma sighed. "We've been at this all day! Can't you just Accept that I'm just as smart as you?" she moaned, "Or at least have a coin toss to decide the winner?" She began walking back to the barn in her robot suit.

"No!" Peridot snapped, "I will not be placed at the same mental level as someone who's body is too ineffective to function at all hours!" She then grabbed the arm of Bulma's robot to stop her. the bot started malfunctioning as it continued to try and move forward.

"Hey! Let go!" Bulma cried, "That kind of tension isn't good for the hydraulics!" She kicked Peridot's mecha back into a tree. Steven, the Z fighter, and Gohan all looked on in surprise as this occurred. "Huh...that actually felt kinda good. Now I get why you guys get a kick out of this!" she stated.

Peridot got up. As the robot adjusted itself she started cackling. "We should have done this from the beginning!" she cried before lunging at Bulma. The head of the bot closed as she braced for the attack. As they collided, Bulma was pushed back, tearing up the ground.

"No! Stop!" Steven cried, "Robot's shouldn't fight!" Vegeta slowly turn to the boy, shock evident on his face. Steven looked uncomfortable. "What? What did I say?" he asked.

Vegeta just stared at him in disbelief for a few moments before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. "I've failed as a mentor…" he grumbled.

"Actually, Steven may have a point," Goku stated. Vegeta looked at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Well what if they hurt someone?"

"Hurt someone?" Vegeta scoffed, "We're a good mile away from anything. The most they'll hurt is whatever idiot decides it'd be a good idea to run towards danger rather than away, in which case they shouldn't be alive in the first place." "Besides," he continued with a smirk, "I want to see how this plays out."

The two Mechas went back and forth, dodging cannon fire and punches alike. As Bulma moved out of the way of one of Peridot's claws, she kneed the robot, sending it flying back. Peridot's bot skidded across the ground before falling on its back. "Ha! had enough, brat?" Bulma projected over her mecha's intercom, "Or do you feel like having your but whooped by a human again?"

"This isn't over!" Peridot shrieked as she struggled to get her robot back upright. Once she had, she started chuckling darkly. "You haven't seen anything yet!" she taunted, "I have a little surprise for you!" One of the claws on Peridot's robot opened up, a hole at the center. Peridot aimed the claw at her as light gathered at the hole. The Z fighter's eyes widened, but before they could do anything, the light cannon fired at the chest piece on Bulma's robot. They had to shield their eyes from the blinding light.

When it dissipated, they all looked on in surprise to see Bulma's robot didn't have a scratch on it. "She's alright…" Vegeta breathed. The rest breathed a similar sigh of relief.

Peridot, however, just looked shocked. "B-but how?!" she cried, "There should be a gaping hole in your machine!"

"Oh please," Bulma scoffed, "I've been living around these knuckle heads for years. Did you really think I wouldn't have made this thing strong enough to withstand a ki blast from one them?" "Now if you want to see a real light show…" she said as her own light cannon charged up, "Try this on for size!" With that, the powerful cannon fired. It tore apart the leg of Peridot's machine, and she screech as it fell over under its own weight.

"It appears we have a winner," Piccolo announced as the others cheered.

"Woo! Nice job Bulma!" Goku called.

The head of Bulma's robot opened up as she made it kneel down. She stepped down onto the knee to which Vegeta helped her down from there. "Thank you," she said, "That was actually kinda fun."

As Peridot crawled out of her robot, Gohan and Steven were waiting to help her out. "Hey, are you ok?" Steven asked. She looked confused and upset as they helped her out.

"I-I...actually lost!" she whispered.

….

Peridot leaned against the machine she was working on as she listlessly unscrewed a bolt. She still couldn't believe she had been outmatched by a human. What kind of a peridot was she if she couldn't even outsmart a human? A defective one at best. As she continued her work mechanically, she heard a voice call to her from the barn.

"Hey Peridot!" Bulma called from the barn, "Come here, I need you."

Peridot sighed and got up before trudging over to the barn. "Yes? What do you want?" she groaned.

Bulma was standing in front of a blueprint and two engines of different sizes. "Hey,I want your opinion on this," she said, "Which do you think we should use? The larger one needs more energy but is more powerful, and the smaller one is built for endurance."

"What do you care?" Peridot said with a dull expression, "You're the smarter one apparently…"

Bulma blinked at her in surprise. "Because I value it?" She stated as if it were obvious, "That's why we're working together on this!"

Peridot looked at her in surprise. "But you won," she stated, "You have the superior mind. Anything I could think of, you would have thought of already!"

Bulma gave her a wry smile. "Do you really think that?" She asked, "I never said I was smarter, all I was trying to prove was that I wasn't primitive...although I will admit I am very clever." "And even if I was smarter, that still doesn't mean I have the same powers of observation or experiences. There were plenty of parts of that competition where you succeeded and I didn't and vise versa," she continued, "Imagine if those bots had been combined into one. That beast would have been unstoppable! You've got way more experience with gem stuff than me, and in the end that's what we'll be dealing with. So what do you say we put our heads together on this?" Peridot blinked at her in surprise before smiling and nodding.


	40. Too Far

It had been several days since the Robolympics and things had been going fairly well since then. They had made plenty of headway on the drill. It was half way done infact. Not only was the drill doing well but things were peaceful between the once adversaries.

Although Vegeta still didn't seem fond of Peridot, much of the original hostilities between she and the Z fighters had dissipated.

That didn't mean that she enjoyed them all the time. The Goku still was an annoyance. His chipper attitude may not be a facade, but it was nonetheless confusing and more and more he seemed to feel the need to be around her. Like now for instance. "Hey Peri!" Goku called as he and Steven flew down to the barn on the flying nimbus, "How's it going?"

"My name is Peridot!" she grumbled as they landed.

"I know. It's a nickname!" Goku explained.

"Well stop calling me that!" she snapped.

"Ok," he chirped. Peridot eyes narrowed at him.

"So how is the drill coming along?" Steven asked.

"Pretty well actually," Bulma said walking up to them, "We still need to build the drill head though. That's gonna be a pain."

"Why not just use a drill head from the Kindergarten?" Peridot suggested.

"Kindergarten?" Bulma asked in confusion but Steven's eyes lit up.

"That's an awesome idea, Peridot!" Steven exclaimed. "Come on, let's head over there right now!" Steven said, grabbing her arm.

"Hold on!" Goku said, "You guys can't go alone. There still might be some gem mutants there and neither of you can fly out of there if you get in trouble. You'll have to get Vegeta or Piccolo to go with you."

"I assume this kindergarten you're talking about is different from what I'm thinking of…" Bulma thought aloud, "But if it really is that dangerous then we have a problem. Both vegeta and Piccolo are gone."

"Why?" Goku asked.

"They had to head out on a mission thirty minutes ago. Piccolo sensed some monster attack," she explained, "I have no idea where they are or when they'll be back, and we can't continue until we have the drill head."

"That's ok! Goku can take us," Steven said.

Goku perked up at that. "Um well…" he started, scratching the back of his head.

Steven frowned. "Is there something wrong?" Steven asked.

"If there is, we need to fix it quick," Peridot stated, "The cluster could emerge at any time. Every minute counts."

Goku bit his lip before sighing and smiling. "Well, we better hurry then," he said, "Let's go get that drill!" With that he pulled them all back onto the nimbus and headed towards the temple.

….

"How's it going up there?" Steven asked as Peridot took messed with the ancient gem drill.

"It's fine!" she waved him off.

"Why's it taking so long?" Goku asked, "Can't we just tear it off?"

"I told you already you can't just tear it off! If the release mechanisms aren't properly triggered then irripareble damage can occur on the connectors, rendering it useless!" she snapped.

"Alright…" he muttered. Steven noticed as the Saiyan looked around nerviously and bit his lip.

"Hey Goku, are you alright?" he asked, "Are you worried about the gem mutants?"

"No, that's not it Steven," he explained, "I just really don't like this place. I never have. It gives me the creeps."

Peridot scoffed. "Oh please!" she said, "I'll believe you aren't as serious minded as other Saiyans but you'd have to be crazy to think I'd believe you're actually scared of this place!"

Goku and Steven both looked at her in confusion. "Why?" Steven asked.

"Well he's a Saiyan!" she stated as if it were obvious, gesturing to him, "They were the greatest soldiers of their time! Powerful, resiliant, and completely fearless!"

Goku scratched the back of his head and scrunched his shoulders from her flattery. "Well, I appreciate your kind words, but I wouldn't say I'm fearless!" he said, "Neither is Vegeta, but he's better at pretending he is."

"Yeah, right. Next you'll tell me the Namekian dyes himself green!" she said with a snort, "Though among all the other absurd things I've seen around you three, I might just believe it!"

Goku chuckled slightly. "That would be pretty silly. Imagine if he were bright yellow like a banana slug!" he said, "The only thing funnier that I could imagine is if I caught him eating a whole ham!"

Peridot started laughing. "I've already seen funnier things around you three!" she retorted, "Take the Vegeta for instance. He's Saiyan elite correct? And yet he's constantly taking orders from the Namekian and the human Bulma! The Namekian I can understand, but the Bulma? Isn't he constantly saying how much he detests humans?"

Goku continued to laugh. "Oh you have no idea how much Bulma has him wrapped around her finger," he stated, "looking back, it's hard to believe how much he hated her at first!"

"She can barely lift an engine shell and yet she has a Saiyan elite at her beck and call!" Peridot chortled, "Either the universe must be ending, or I'm cracked!"

Goku's laughter died down and Steven frowned. "Ok, Peridot, I think that's enough of that," he said lightly.

She however did not stop. "But the funniest thing of all is you, Goku!" she cried, still smiling.

Steven and Goku's eyes widened with concern. "Huh?" he said, "What do you mean?"

"You're such an anomaly. You look like a Saiyan and are strong and tough like one too," she said, "but you don't act like one at all! You aren't angry or blood thirsty, or the least bit sadistic! Infact, I don't know if you have one ounce of cruelty in your body! It's ridiculous. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were some kind of subspecies! It's quite funny, really!"

"No, it's not!" Goku said, slamming a fist against the side of the broken injector. There was a beep and a hiss as the drill head released from the injector. Peridot looked at the Saiyan with wide, fearful eyes as he glared back at her. "We're leaving. Now," he said stoically as he went to pick up the drill head, "Come on."

The two trailed after him tentatively, keeping several paces behind the tall Saiyan.

…

When they returned, Peridot ran for the barn as fast as she could. Her speedy escape alerted Bulma to their return. "Hey you guys!" she called, "Did you get the...Woah...What happened?"

"Peridot touched a nerve," Goku explained tartly before setting the drill down and walking away.

Steven and Bulma watched with concern as he walked away.

"Seriously, what the heck happened?" Bulma asked.

"Goku and Peridot were joking around, but then Peridot started talking about how he apparently isn't like other Saiyans, that he wasn't normal, and he got really upset," he explained nervously.

A look of realization dawned on Bulma's face. "Yeah...that'll do it," she sighed. "Don't worry. He'll be fine in a little bit."

"Alright…" he said, "Hey Bulma...why did Peridot say it was normal for Saiyans to be cruel and sadistic? I know Vegeta has anger issues, but…"

Bulma sighed. Piccolo had mentioned this little issue, but she didn't think she'd have to deal with it. "It's called a stereotype, Steven," she lied, "It may not be true but that doesn't stop people from believing it."

Steven nodded, though he didn't feel much better. He still had a lot of questions on his mind among other things. He knew what he had to do first though: talk to Peridot.

…

"Peridot?" Steven called as he searched for the gem in the barn. He looked between the different piles of plane parts and materials. "Peridot, please come out! I know you're here!" he called.

"No! I'm never coming out of here again! Leave me be!" she shrieked.

Steven pushed aside some sheet metal and found her curled up with her recorder. "Peridot, what are you doing?" Steven asked.

"Preparing to record my last log…" she lamented, "It's only a matter of time before he finds me!"

"Who finds you?" Steven asked.

"Goku of course!" she exclaimed, "I messed up...I don't know how but I did. Did you not see how furious he was?! I've never seen him angry! It's only a matter of time before he comes here to shatter me!"

"Goku's not going to shatter you," Steven assured, "You hurt his feelings but he's not going to attack you for it."

"How do you know that?!" she cried.

"Because Goku isn't like that. You said it yourself," he explained, "I think if you just go and apologize to him, he'll forgive you."

"Yeah right…" Peridot grumbled.

"Come, on Peridot! Just trust me!" Steven pleaded.

She looked over to him before frowning, "Grr….fine but we do it my way alright?" she said.

….

Peridot sat curled in her corner waiting. She had sent Steven to play her recording to the angry Saiyan. It had been almost an hour. She didn't know how long she would last without her log to keep her company, but she didn't want to step outside. Suddenly, the sheet metal above her shifted. She flinched as the light poured down on her. Peridot tentatively looked up to see the tall Saiyan staring down at her. Peridot backed up in fear, despite the calm smile on his face. "Hey, Peridot," he quipped, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I-I…" she squeaked.

"By the way," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Thanks for apologizing. I really appreciate it."

"Y-You're not angry?" she asked.

"Not anymore…" he said, before his smile fell, though his face was still calm, "Though I would appreciate it if you wouldn't talk about other Saiyans, at least around Steven, ok? "

"Alright…" she responded, slightly confused.

Goku's smile returned again. "Thanks, Peridot!" he said, patting her on the back, "Now, do you and Bulma need any help with the drill?"

"Um...No. Not now anyways," she said.

"Ok then," he said, "Let me know if you do. See ya later." He then flew out of the room. Peridot watched him fly away, feeling relieved and a little happy, though she couldn't tell why.


	41. Steven's Birthday

Greg pulled up in his van with Connie in the back. She was excited to be celebrating Steven's Birthday. She had never been to a birthday party before their than her own. She had gotten him a brand new shirt and she was sure he would love it. She was also hoping to meet this new gem Steven had told her about. She was apparently one of the gems that was sent by homeworld to work on the fusion experiments, but now she was helping them...for some reason…

Connie jumped out of the car to find a large crowd of people standing around, many of which she hadn't seen before. Steven was at the center of them. As he noticed her, a smile came to his face. "Connie!" he called, running over to her.

"Oh, Hey Steven!" she said, snapping out of her surprise. "Happy Birthday!" she announced, handing him the present.

"Aw, thanks Connie!" he said, "You didn't have to."

"Hey, what are friends for?" she said.

"So this is your little friend we heard so much about," a voice said. They both turned to see a tall, three eyed man standing over them. Connie's eyes widened at his presence.

"Yup!" Steven chirped. "Connie, this is Tien Shinhan. He used to train under the Crane Hermit," Steven introduced, "Tien, this is Connie."

"A pleasure to meet you young lady," He said, kneeling down and offering his hand.

Connie smiled at him. "Likewise," she replied, shaking his hand.

"Hey! Aren't you going to introduce us too?" a voice called. They turned to see a short bald man with incense burns on his forehead, another, shorter man that looked a bit like a mime, a fairly tall man with long black hair and a scar, and a floating cat.

"Of course!" Steven said with a nod, pulling Connie over. "Connie, this Krillin, Goku's best friend," he said pointing to the bald man who waved. "And this is Chiaotzu. He lives with Tien," he explained, gesturing to the pale one who simply nodded and smiled. "And this is Yamcha and Puar!" he finished off.

"Nice to meet you little lady!" Yamcha said, stepping forward.

"Yeah! We've never gotten a chance to meet one of Steven's friends before!" Puar chimed in.

"It's good to meet you too!" she said, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you like a familiar? Sorry, it's just that I finished a books series about them and-"

Puar and Yamcha chuckled. "No it's fine!" Yamcha said, "In a way, Puar kind of it my familiar. He's one of my closest friends and used to help me out all the time in the desert when we were in a pinch!"

"What do you mean used to? I still help you get out of trouble!" Puar teased.

"That's so cool!" Connie said.

"Hey! Don't forget me!" a voice called from inside the barn. Steven and Connie turned to see Bulma stepping out of the barn, wiping engine oil off her hands.

Connie's jaw dropped as she saw her. "Oh right! I almost forgot!" Steven said, "This is another one of Goku's friends. Her name is-"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW BULMA BRIEFS?!" Connie shrieked.

Steven practically jumped in surprise. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"She's one of the most influential scientists in the world right now and head of Capsule Corporation and all its affiliates! She's developed and patented hundreds of new technologies that have revolutionized how we live our lives! She is quite literally, one of the most powerful women in the world!" Connie chattered, "How do you know her?!"

"That's a long and crazy story," Bulma said with a chuckle as she stepped forward, "I'd be happy to tell you later, but for now, let's just say it all started with a few boys with monkey tails and one hell of a road trip!"

Connie nearly jumped as she heard her idol acknowledge her. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry for freaking out like that ma'am!" she gushed in embarrassment, "It's just such an honor to be in your presence! I and the rest of my family are such huge fans of your work! Your technology has really revolutionized my mother's field! I've always dreamed of getting a chance to meet you but I never thought I'd-"

"Ok, kid," Krillin said, "I think you've stroked her ego enough! We don't need it growing so big it engulfs the earth!"

Connie flushed in embarrassment while Bulma pouted. "Oh shush! Like you're one to talk about ego!" she snapped. "Don't mind him," she said, turning to Connie, "But I would appreciate it if you just treated me like everyone else. Honestly, half of why I'm here is to get away from being the most powerful woman in the world!" Connie smiled and nodded.

"So are you going to be working in the barn for the party or will you be hanging with us?" Steven asked.

"I'll be out here," she answered, "I need a break and Peridot was happy to take over with the drill for now."

"Hey, can I say hello to the B-day boy too?" Greg called as he ran up to them. "Happy birthday!" he said, hugging his son. "Boy, time sure flies huh?" he said as he set his son down, "It seems like yesterday you were only a baby and now you're fourteen!"

Connie gave a look of shock for the third time that day. "You're fourteen?!" Connie repeated, "But I'm only twelve and three quarters! You're older than me?!"

"Well yeah I guess," Steven said with a shrug.

"Well sure! I'll show you!" Greg said leading them over to a picnic table where the Z fighters were setting up the party near by. He grabbed a scrap book from his van and walked back over to them. "You see we have infant, toddler, adolescence…" Greg said as he flipped through the book, but they quickly noticed that the pictures of Steven seemed to stop changing after a while. "Huh...still stuck on adolescence, I guess," Greg noted.

"...Mr. Universe, could I show you how the defibrillator works?" Connie said with a worried expression.

"uh...sure…" he responded, sensing the tone.

Steven sat down at the table frowning. Goku noticed this and floated over to him curiously. "Hey what's wrong?" he asked, "This is your birthday party, you should be happy!"

"We have everything under control, Steven," Piccolo said as he and Vegeta sat down at the table, "You should relax."

"I know but…" he started, "I'm just worried, cause I think I've stopped aging."

The Z fighters blinked in surprise for a second before sharing amused expressions. "That's what you're upset over?" Vegeta said, "That's ridiculous! Of course you're still aging, all of us are!"

"But I'm not growing up!" he cried, "Look!" He opened the scrapbook and flipped through it. "I haven't changed since I was eight!"

"So?" Goku questioned, confused.

"So, I should be going through puberty right now!" he retorted, "Humans are supposed to!"

"But you're not a human Steven," Piccolo said, "the rules don't apply to you." Steven looked confused until Piccolo explained. "Steven, different species mature at different rates," he said, "Namekians like me reach maturity in only a few years."

"And Saiyans like us don't even start puberty until we're halfway to twenty!" Goku added, "My voice didn't even start cracking until I was sixteen!"

"But I'm not half Saiyan, I'm half gem!" he cried, "What if I just stop growing period?"

"Does it matter?" Vegeta stated, "So what if you're short? It's not like you're going to die from it."

"Yeah, just look at Krillin or Chiaotzu!" Goku noted, "They're short and they're perfectly happy! Heck, Krillin even won a world tournament!"

"Yeah but…" Steven started, before frowning and pausing, "What if Connie doesn't want to be around me anymore?!"

The Z fighters stared at him blankly. Suddenly, Vegeta burst out laughing. Piccolo glared at him before holding his face in his hands and sighing. "Steven," he said, "When she met you, you two were attacked by a giant worm, and almost every time you two have been around each other since then, you've been in some kind of danger. I can say with utmost certainty that she is not going to stop liking you because you're short."

"You sure?" he asked.

"Positive," he stated, looking up at the boy. Steven smiled at him at that.

….

"Goku stop!" Chichi scolded as she put the finishing touches on the cake, "You can have some when the cake is finished." It had taken her hours to bake the multi tier cake

So long that she had to bring it to the party to finish decorating it. Because of this, she was having to deal with one and a half Saiyans trying to sneak frosting.

"Come on Chichi! Can't we just lick the bowl?" Goku pleaded.

"The bowl isn't even empty yet!" she argued.

"That's because you made too much!" Goku argued.

"Please mommy?" Gohan begged, giving her puppy dog eyes.

However, his mother had long since grown immune to it. "No," she stated firmly, "Now run along both of you, or you won't get any cake!" She shooed them away with her spoon and the two Saiyans grumbled as they walked off.

When the cake was finished being decorated, they all gathered around the picnic table. Two candles sat at the top of the cake in the shape of a one and a four.

Due to the dessert's height, Steven had to climb a small ladder to reach the candles.

Steven thought for a moment to decide what he wanted to wish for. As he did, a high pitched whistling could be heard. Everyone paused for a moment as the whistling got louder and louder. Before anyone could say anything, something zoomed overhead, causing a rush of wind and blowing out the candles. Peridot peaked out of the barn door to see what was going on.

"The hell is that?" Tien commented.

"It looks like someone flying," Chiaotzu observed.

"That's impossible! Everyone on earth who knows how to use their ki to fly is right here," Krillin denied.

"Then maybe they aren't from Earth," Piccolo noted darkly. All of the fighters prepared themselves as the figure stopped mid-air and turned around, heading straight for them. The Z fighters moved to the front of the group. Vegeta narrowed his eyes as he watched the flight pattern. It wasn't like Tien's sky dancing technique or any other like that of earth. However, it was still familiar, because it bore a striking resemblance to the technique all members of Frieza's army learned, and the fact that he couldn't get read on the intruder's power level didn't help.

"Gohan, Connie, get inside the barn," Goku said, taking a fighting stance.

"but-" Gohan started, but was cut off by his father turning and giving him a stern look. The boy suddenly nodded before grabbing Connie's hand and running inside the barn.

"You too Steven," Vegeta ordered.

"But I can help!" he protested, "I've been training with you guys for years."

"Steven, under normal circumstances I'd agree, but if this is anything like we think it is, then no you can't!" Vegeta argued, "Now get inside before-" He was cut off however, as the figure landed. The Z fighter's eyes widened as they looked upon the alien, particularly Vegeta, who looked like he had seen a ghost. The being was tall, with massive black hair. When he stood up, the figure was revealed to be wearing old, beat up Frieza Force armor, although the emblem had been scratched off. Around his waist, a tail sat firmly wound.

"It's a Saiyan!" Steven whispered.

The man had a severe expression. As the man looked them all over, his eyes widened as they fell on Vegeta and a smile broke out across his face.

"I knew it! That energy signature had to be you!" he cried, "You stubborn litte brat! Deep down, I knew the universe wasn't going to get rid of you that easily!" He suddenly jumped in front of the prince and knelt. "It has been so long, and we all thought you had died! I'm glad I found you, my lord."


	42. Saiyan Reunion

"How lucky must I be to find you again in the whole universe. To think you'd be stuck on this pathetic little rock. I almost overlooked it due to the state of it," the Saiyan stated standing up, "It doesn't look like you've laid a single hand on it all these years! What have you been doing here?"

Steven's brow furrowed in confusion. "Vegeta, who is this?" he asked.

Raditz turned his attention to the boy. "Who's the kid?" he asked, "Don't tell me you've been 'intermingling' with the locals."

Vegeta growled at him as Piccolo and Goku moved defensively in front of the half gem. "He's none of your concern, Raditz," he hissed.

"Steven, get inside," Piccolo ordered. Steven started backing up and opened the door of the barn, but continued to peek out the when they turned away.

The taller Saiyan gave Vegeta a confused look before his eyes turned back to Piccolo and Goku. His eyebrows flew to his hairline as recognition flooded his face. "Wait a minute...Kakarot?" he asked. Goku's shoulders tensed as he spoke. "Dear Beerus, it is you!" he said with a chuckle, folding his arms, "Well isn't this a pleasant surprise! I thought you were a goner when the planet went out. The records show you flew straight through Cooler's territory!"

"No. I landed here safely," Goku stated tartly, eying him carefully, "Some of the people here took me in and took care of me."

"Well that certainly explains a few things..." the taller Saiyan muttered.

"Seriously, who is this guy?" Krillin asked, "And what is he doing here?"

"His name is Raditz," Vegeta responded, "An old comrade of mine and Kakarot's brother. More importantly, he's a member of Frieza's army." Steven's eyes widened and he had to suppress a gasp. With that one line, Steven's mind began to explode with questions. This guy worked for the Colds? The people who slaughtered whole planets to make a profit? Why would he do that? He's a Saiyan! The Saiyans were wiped out by Frieza! And did Vegeta just say they were once comrades? Did that mean he...no it couldn't be. He probably just meant before Raditz joined up with Frieza...right?

"As for why he's here…" Vegeta growled, "I can make a pretty safe bet. And because of that I'm giving you one warning, Raditz: Leave or die. I don't care how important this mission is, this planet is off the market."

Raditz looked baffled, before a smirk formed and he started laughing. "Oh this is too rich! I understand Kakarot getting so attached to these whelps, but the great Prince Vegeta? I wouldn't believe it if I weren't seeing it with my own eyes! In fact I'm still having trouble," he said, wiping a tear away from his eye, "Must have taken an awful lot to make you turn over a new leaf. What was it? A woman?"

Vegeta glared daggers at him. "I said leave!" he snarled, firing a ki blast at the Saiyan.

Raditz stumbled back. "Oh, calm down!" Raditz hissed, "I'm not here to hurt your precious planet!" The three Z warriors faltered in their stance as they were caught off guard by his comment. "I haven't worked for Frieza for years. In fact, I left soon after you disappeared from his ranks," he explained.

…

Steven backed up from the door as the words stuck him like a knife. His eyes were as wide as saucers as his world seemed to crumble. No...it couldn't be true. Vegeta couldn't have been one of them. Vegeta cared about him, and the Earth...kinda. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The comments about being evil, of Rose keeping him under supervision, the way he threatens people, his willingness to kill…even the armor he sometimes wore resembled the armor Raditz was wearing. A sickening feeling developed in his stomach as he thought about it. A horrifying image came to mind of his mentor hovering above a burning planet, looking down at it with the same smile he saw him wear many times over when they fought monsters. The image made him want to throw up. He willed the image away as best he could. He needed to be alone. Steven ran to the back of the barn as fast as he could…

….

"That's a lie," Vegeta hissed, "It has to be. What other purpose would you have here?"

"I was trying to find someone strong enough to stop him!" Raditz explained, "When we returned after you disappeared, Frieza didn't believe us when we said you died. He was convinced you were hiding somewhere, waiting to eventually overthrow him."

"That's actually not entirely untrue," Vegeta noted.

"We didn't know that. But he thought we did," he explained, "He had Nappa tortured for information. He obviously didn't have any and so he ended up dying...not that Frieza would have let him live otherwise."

Vegeta's eyes widened before he grimaced again. Nappa had been like his caretaker in the years he spent in Frieza's army. Although he wasn't too bright, he had trusted him more than anyone. Knowing how horribly he had died because of him was upsetting to say the least. Just another reason to hate the purple space lizard.

"I managed to escape before they got to me, and as I presumed myself to be the last of the Saiyans, it became my duty to take revenge on him for our race. I've spent years training and dodging his forces, but its still not enough," he continued, "So I started using a scanner to track power levels and see if I can find someone strong enough to either train me or help take out the over lord. That's when I discovered you. Several months ago I picked up a reading of immense power coming from this planet. It was only for a split second but I was still able to pinpoint it and track it back her"Now that I've found you two, we may actually stand a chance," Raditz said with a smile, "So I'll ask of you this: Come back to my ship with me. We can leave this rock and prepare to one day take on Frieza."

"As much as I'd like to, I'm afraid we can't," Vegeta stated.

Raditz gave a surprised look. "Why not?!" he questioned, "You said that's why you stayed on this planet in the first place."

"Yes, but things have changed," Vegeta explained, "We have more pressing issues at the moment. Currently we're trying to save this planet from a parasite that's ready to crack it open like an egg at any moment. We can't even begin to consider taking on Frieza until that's taken care of." Vegeta turned away from him and started walking back to the barn. "If you truly mean no harm to this place and there is no one tracking you down at this moment then you can stay, But we can't face him until this is dealt with," he finished, waving his hand in a dismissive motion.

Raditz growled. "What about Vegeta-Sai? And the Saiyan race? Are they not important to you anymore?" he demanded.

"Of course they are!" Vegeta snapped turning to him, "Revenge just isn't my first priority!"

"The fact of the matter is, the Saiyans and your planet are already gone," Piccolo chimed in, "The Earth isn't yet. The living take priority over the dead."

"The Earth is our home," Goku added, "It's our Vegeta-Sai...kind of. If you could have prevented your home's destruction, wouldn't you have?"

Raditz frowned before relenting. "Fine," he grumbled, "But once this is over with, I will not take no for an answer. I'll stay on this planet peacefully until then."

Goku fully relaxed and smiled. "Sounds like a plan," he said, "I'm sure we can find a place for you to stay in the meantime...Maybe here at the barn or my old room at the temple. Somewhere we can still keep an eye on you."

"I'd say not at the temple," Piccolo argued, "You may be willing to live here peacefully, but I still don't like the idea of have you around our house when we're not around. Plus there's the fact that civilians tend to hang around their."

"Whatever. So long as it's not outside," Raditz said as they all started walking towards the barn.

"Soooo….Just like that you guys invited a gigantic threat to live with you?" Yamcha asked.

"I guess," Goku said with a shrug, "I mean it's not the first time we did that. Peridot did try to kill us several times after all." "We should probably tell Gohan and the others about you before hand," he said, opening the barn door. "Steven! Connie! Gohan!" he called, "It's safe to come out."

Connie and Gohan peeked out of the door before scampering forward. Peridot peered out from her own hiding space but didn't budge. "Is the threat gone?" Connie asked. She squeaked as she felt a shadow fall on her, and turned to see Raditz looming over her. She and Gohan pressed together and backed away slowly. He stared down at them, seemingly analyzing them.

"Connie, Gohan, this is Raditz," Goku introduced, "He's going to be staying with us for a while."

"Um…nice to meet you?" Connie started, offering her hand. Raditz just stared at them.

"I can tell the one with a tail is a half breed, but what about the other one?" he asked Goku.

"That's Connie. She's just a regular human," Goku explained.

Raditz nodded before continuing. "And what about the other one...the Steven brat," he asked, "Is he a half Saiyan or a full blooded human?"

"Well...neither actually," Goku said, scratching the back of his head, "It's a bit complicated...wait a minute, where is he?" They all noticed that Steven hadn't come out of the barn yet.

"Steven?" Goku called. There was no response. "That's strange…he usually comes running immediately..." Goku scratched his head in confusion.

"We saw him run to the back of the barn," Gohan said, "he looked upset about something, but he told us to leave him alone."

"Hmm…" Goku said frowning, "I'll go see what he's up too."

….

Steven sat in the loft and hugged his knees. He just couldn't believe it. Not only had he been lied too, but the truth was absolutely horrifying! Vegeta wasn't just a murderer. He committed genocide! Most likely multiple times! All sorts of uncomfortable questions came to his mind. Was Vegeta assigned to destroy the Earth? How many planets had he destroyed before?...Did he enjoy it?...And if so, did he ever want to do the same to Earth now?

Steven shook his head. What was he doing?! This was his guardian! Vegeta risked his life for him before! He deeply respected his mother. He protected the planet from all sorts of monsters including invaders like Raditz! Even if he used to be evil, he certainly wasn't anymore, right?

"Steven?" he heard Goku call, "Where are you? I know you're here. I can sense you after all."

Steven sighed as he crawled out of his hiding place. "Hey…" he said.

"There you are!" he said, "I called for you earlier, but you didn't answer. Connie said you were upset. Is that true?"

"Yeah…" Steven trailed off, rubbing the back of his head. He didn't want to talk about this right now, especially not with Goku. He knew Saiyan stuff in general was a touchy subject with him, and he thought he knew why now. "I uh...was just a little angry you guys didn't let me help you defeat the bad guy," he lied.

Goku seemed to study him for a second. Steven was worried he had caught his lie. "Sorry about that Steven," he said, "but people like Raditz are a bit too powerful for you to handle. Maybe next time."

Steven inwardly sighed in relief as Goku accepted the lie. "Ok. So how did you defeat Raditz? Did you scare him off?" Steven asked as he got down from his loft.

"Well…" Goku said, scratching the back of his head, "No...not really. We didn't fight him at all actually…" "Infact...He's kind of...staying with us now…" Goku continued awkwardly.

Steven stared at him, flabbergasted. "What?!" he said, "But He's… I mean...Why? I thought you said he was dangerous?"

"We thought he was and technically, he still is," Goku explained, "But he didn't come here looking to hurt the Earth. He came looking for our help. He wants us to help him take down Lord Frieza."

Steven's eyes widened. "What about the cluster?" he asked.

"We're still working on that. In fact that's still our first objective," he explained, "So until we have that taken care of, he's just going to...hang around for awhile...mostly so we can keep an eye on him, but still. He'll be living in the barn here."

"Ok then…" Steven murmured, "I hope Peridot doesn't mind."

As they exited the barn, the party resumed...mostly. Everyone had a slice of cake, including Raditz. Upon taking his first bite, he proclaimed, "Now I think I get why you like this place so much!" Still there was a wary air as the festivities continued. People kept their distance from the new Saiyan, who honestly didn't mind. At some point he even decided to abandon the party and go inside the barn to start making a sleeping area for himself, much to the displeasure and distress of the green gem inside. This caused the tension to disperse greatly...for everyone except Steven. Although he still cared for his shorter Saiyan mentor, he couldn't stand within four feet of him or make eye contact with him now. Drumming up conversation was even harder, but at least he could excuse that by talking to others instead. He just hoped the prince didn't notice.


	43. After Party

"So what's the point of this again?" Raditz asked as he held up the cards with red apples on them. He scratched at the strange material on his back. His brother's wife had demanded that he wear something else besides "That rotten smelling garbage you call armor," and so he was forced to wear these ugly blue pineapple print button up shirt, sandals, and khaki shorts.

"It's for fun!" Gohan explained.

"This isn't my idea of fun," Raditz grumbled, tail twitching in annoyance.

"How do you know? You've never played before," Connie said.

"Cause I don't get this game," he stated.

"You match the words on the red apples with the green apples. The closest match wins a round!" she responded.

"Yes but I don't understand half of these words!" he said, "What the heck is a 'Michael Jackson'?"

"He was a famous human," Connie explained.

"What, was he some kind of fighter or scientist?" he asked.

"No he's a singer," Gohan explained.

"Then I don't get why people care about him," Raditz responded, resting his head in his hand.

The children sighed and set down their cards. They had been trying to help Raditz get used to life on Earth all morning, but so far that wasn't going well. He didn't like cartoons and had more fun antagonizing the local farmer's cows than playing board games or doing puzzles with them. At least he wasn't hurting anyone though.

Piccolo watched the children interact with the new Saiyan carefully as he meditated. Raditz's intentions may be genuine, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to cause trouble. He was already struggling to adapt, though that could change with time.

Suddenly, Vegeta approached him. "'Piccolo, have you seen Steven? I can't sense him anywhere," he asked, "He's already missed a half hour of his morning training session with me. Just because we have Kakarot's brother to deal with now doesn't mean he gets time off."

"Haven't seen him," Piccolo grunted, "He might have gone back to the temple to grab something for our guest, though."

"Very well, I'll go check," the Saiyan sighed before taking off.

Piccolo watched as he disappeared into the distance. "He's gone. You can come out now," he announced. Steven stepped out from his hiding place behind the Namekian.

"Thanks Piccolo," he said.

"Why are you avoiding him again?" the Namekian responded.

"No reason…" Steven said looking away.

"Steven, don't lie to me," Piccolo warned looking at the boy, "or I'll bring you to Vegeta myself."

"Ok…" Steven relented, "I'm just a little uncomfortable being around him right now."

"Because...?" Piccolo prompted.

He hesitated and looked down. "I may have…" he started, "Found out Vegeta used to work for Frieza…"

Piccolo faltered. He turned and looked at Steven in surprise. "Who told you?" he asked, "Was it Raditz?"

"Sorta…" Steven said, rubbing the back of his head, "I was listening in when he arrived last night."

The green alien sighed. "He didn't want you to find out like this," Piccolo stated.

"That doesn't change that it happened!" Steven argued, "How else was he going to tell me that would have made things better? 'Oh Steven, Vegeta used to destroy worlds for a living, but that's ok now because he doesn't anymore!'? What am I supposed to think of that?"

"It's not that simple Steven," Piccolo stated, "You don't know anything about Vegeta's history. What he has done was more than wrong, but it wasn't simply his job. He didn't exactly have a choice in the matter."

"What do you mean?" Steven asked.

"Well the issue starts a long time ago," Piccolo began, "You know about Vegeta-Sai, the Saiyan Homeworld, correct?" Steven nodded. "Well that wasn't their original homeworld. A long, long time ago the Saiyans used to live on the planet Salad, but then tragedy struck it was destroyed," Piccolo continued, "The Saiyans escaped its destruction but were left without a home. They drifted aimlessly through space for years. Then they found Colds. They were willing to sell them a new home, but they had nothing to give in return. They needed a new home so a deal was struck: the Saiyans would work under the Colds until their debt was paid." "Though there was an uproar at first, the Saiyans eventually got used to it, but the Colds still did not trust them," Piccolo elaborated, "Frieza was told that one day, a Saiyan would rise up against him to stop him. Fearing this meant rebellion, he kidnapped Vegeta as a child and forced him to work in his army to keep his father from organizing an uprising. Still, even with that, two years later he blew up the planet and the rest of the Saiyan race. From that day forward, Vegeta swore vengeance against him."

"What happened next? Did he escape?" Steven asked.

"No," Piccolo said, "He stayed under Frieza's thumb for a few more years, hoping that if he stayed close to him, he'd eventually have the opportunity to kill Frieza. Then he got caught in an asteroid belt and crash landed on Earth. Your mother found him and looked after him from then on."

"So he really was good all along," Steven said with a smile.

"No he wasn't," Piccolo said, "The Vegeta you know now and the Vegeta from back then were two different people. If it weren't for Rose, Vegeta would have no care for the Earth or anyone on it. He probably would have used it as a punching bag until he figured out a way off. Had you met him back then, he would not have hesitated to kill you if you stood in his way."

"How's that supposed to make me feel better?!" Steven questioned.

"Because he's not like that anymore," Piccolo said, "Your mother had a profound effect on him. Her kindness and discipline changed him. He may not share your mother's fondness for humanity, but he would rather die than let anyone hurt you or this planet."

Steven blinked before smiling. "Thanks Piccolo," he said. He looked over to where Connie and Gohan were trying to show Raditz how to play checkers. The man had a very irritated expression on his face as they set up the board. "Do you think Raditz will ever become like Vegeta?" Steven asked, "I mean...what is he going to do if we face Frieza and beat him?"

Piccolo shrugged. "It's possible, but I wouldn't bet on it," he thought aloud. "Raditz is different. He's been alone for a long time. He might never get used to people or life on Earth, but I don't think that should stop you from trying to help. If your mother was able to, so might you," he said, "But not now." Steven looked at him in confusion at his last sentence. "Why not?" he asked.

"Because you're already late for your morning training with Vegeta, and he's going to be fuming if you keep him waiting any longer," Piccolo noted.

"Oh crap! You're right!" Steven exclaimed, starting to run off, "Thanks for the talk Piccolo!" The Namekian nodded. As he watched the boy run back towards the temple, a slight grin formed on his face. He then turned back to watch Raditz lose to Gohan in checkers.


	44. Roommates

Peridot grumbled as the strange noise continued to emanate from the long haired Saiyan. it was almost like some kind of throaty roar. Almost rhythmically, he would emit it everytime time he went into stasis until he awoke the next morning. She glared at where she could see his tail hanging off the loft where he was resting. Every night he would do this and it would impede her work. She never asked for this. This new Saiyan called Raditz just showed up one day and they invited him to stay...in her work area.

She was alright with the Bulma in her work area, but this was just unacceptable. Not only did he make those noises all night but he was also loud during the day, extremely sloppy, and had no concern for the belongings of others. She had had it with him, but she didn't dare say anything. He was a Saiyan after all. He could grind her into dust if she upset him! So, she continued to put up with the noise. "You only have to deal with this a little longer. Once you stop the Cluster, you won't have to put up with him again…" she thought.

….

Pa-thunk! Pa-thunk!

Peridot's eye twitched at the noise. She remained silent however, and continued her work.

Pa-thunk! Pa-thunk!

Her annoyance grew every time that noise resounded against the wall. She gritted her tee, but held her tongue. She couldn't say anything. There was no one around to intervene if she did.

Pa-thunk! Pa-thunk!

Everytime the ball hit the wall, she came closer and closer to screaming. she didn't know how much more she could take.

Pa-thunk! Pa-

"WILL YOU STOP THAT?! I'M TRYING TO WORK!"

Silence fell and Peridot's hands immediately flew to her mouth. The ball fell to the floor as Raditz stopped the repetitive motion of tossing and catching the ball to look at her in surprise. She stared at him with wide eyes as he got down from his loft and started walking towards her. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She whimpered, curling up in a ball, "You can continue! Just please don't-" She stopped as he walked passed her towards the door. Peridot looked at him in confusion.

"I'm going for a walk...or see if the green guy's willing to spar," he announced.

"So you're not going to try and hurt me?" she asked.

"For now. Seeing as my survival on this planet is kinda depended on you being able to finish this drill thing, it's in my best interest not to," he said as he continued to walk out the door, "I'll be back in about an hour." With that he stepped outside the barn door.

Everything was quiet. Peridot sat in silence for a moment before she felt a flutter, giddy feeling rise up in her. She giggled slightly, covering her mouth. "I just shouted at a Saiyan...and got away with it!" she thought with glee.

….

He was making that noise again. This time in the middle of the day. She could see him lying on a haybale next to an old shelf, eyes shut. Bulma had left to attach a part to the drill outside. Peridot continued her work, trying to ignore the noise.

A few minutes passed. Then there was a loud crashing noise and a screech. Peridot turned to the noise to see that one of the shelves hand broken, and its contents, including a few tool boxes and paint buckets, had spilled onto the floor. Raditz was wide-eyed and panicked, but it didn't look like any of the shelf items had come close to hitting any vital part of his body.

"Everything ok in there?" Bulma called.

"Yes!" Peridot responded, "A shelving unit just malfunctioned."

"Ok!" Bulma hollard back.

Peridot looked over to the mess. "So are you going to clean it up?" she asked the Saiyan from a distance. His panicked look switched to dumbfounded as he seemed to struggle to look over to her. Then it quickly turned to anger. "Alright! I'm sorry!" she huffed, "I won't bother you!"

"Peridot!" he hissed weakly, "Get over here!"

"What?" she asked, "I thought you wanted me to leave you alone!"

"Just get over here!" he growled.

Peridot looked at him in confusion before getting up slowly. "Why exactly do you want me over there?" she asked.

The Saiyan looked down in embarrassment. "I...need your help…" he said.

"And why would I help you?" she asked folding her arms and narrowing her eyes.

"Because if I manage to get out of this without your help, I will make you regret turning me down!" he snarled, glaring at her.

Peridot yelped before getting up and walking over to him. "Ok, what do you want?" she asked.

Raditz blushed in embarrassment. "I can't move," he admitted, "A tool box landed on my tail…"

Peridot looked down and sure enough, one of the toolboxes from the shelf sat atop the Saiyan's very crumpled looking tail. A wry grin formed on Peridot's face. "If you laugh, I swear I'll turn you into space dust!" he threatened as he noticed it.

Peridot composed herself before picking up the heavy object and placing it aside. Raditz sighed in relief and stood up, stretching. "Thanks," he said, looking down at her and smiling. Peridot returned it. A second later the smile on his face faded in favor of a more stern expression. "You will mention this to no one, got it?" he warned. The green gem swallowed nervously before nodding.

….

Everything was quiet. Raditz had gone off to go into stasis again. Peridot smiled to herself. All day Steven, Gohan, and Connie had been showing Raditz "movies" on the image projection cube. They finally left, and now she had an opportunity to continue her analysis of "Camp Pining Hearts." She crawled up to the loft with the tape in hand. She carefully tip-toed around Raditz in his bed and turned on the projection cube. Raditz stirred slightly as the light filtered into the room, but only turned over in response. She put the tape in and started the episode. There was a groan from the Saiyah behind her as the theme song began, but for the next forty minutes, he mostly remained quiet.

Peridot watched the episode with undivided attention, carefully taking notes on the episode and giggling with delight at her favorite moments. As the credits rolled, she rewound the episode and started playing it again.

"Oh, no way!" Raditz growled as the theme song started playing again, "Are you really watching this a second time?!" Peridot jumped as the irritated Saiyan got up, marched over to the TV and ejected the tape.

"Hey! I was watching that!" she snapped.

"Yeah! And it's the middle of the night, and I'm trying to sleep!" he yelled back.

"So? you spent the entire day watching those stupid Sad Sword 'movies' with Steven, Connie, and Gohan and disrupting my work!" she retorted, "Why can't I watch what I want to watch now?"

"First of all, It's 'Lonely Blade', not Sad Sword, and although they're extremely inaccurate, they're way better than this tripe!" he started, "Secondly, because it's night! You can watch whatever you want during the day, but at night, I have to sleep!"

"You 'slept' all last night! Can't you go one night without?" Peridot responded.

"Sure if you want to see me burn down the nearest city!" Raditz snapped rolling his eyes, "If I don't sleep, I get tired and irritable. For your own good, you should avoid making it so I end up like that."

"Why?" Peridot asked.

Raditz looked at her in confusion. "Why what?" he asked.

"Why do you get irritable?" she asked.

"Because I'm organic. All organic creatures are like this. Not just humans," he explained like it was obvious, "If organic creatures don't sleep, we can't function properly. We can't concentrate or control our emotions as well."

"That seems horribly inefficient," Peridot noted, "It must be extremely annoying to have to do that every night."

Raditz looked at her in surprise. "Actually, it's more annoying when you can't sleep," he explained. Peridot gave a confused look. "Most organic creatures enjoy sleep. It allows one to relieve stress and help rejuvenate one's self," he explained.

Peridot tapped her chin in thought. "It can relieve stress?" she repeated. Raditz nodded. "And how does one initiate sleep?" she asked.

Raditz gave her an odd look. "Well you just lie down, get comfortable, close your eyes, and just relax until you drift off," he explained.

"Drift off?" she questioned, "I thought you didn't move while in stasis."

Raditz blinked at her before he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "No you don't actually-" he started, "It's just an expression. Here, watch me." He crawled into his makeshift bed and lied down. "You lie like this, and close your eyes," he explained. Peridot copied him on the floor next to the bed. "Now you just stop thinking, breath deeply, and let your body relax," he said.

Peridot did as he said. As she breathed deeply, she felt herself relax until she finally drifted off.

…

A week or two had passed since then. She had dabbled in sleeping a few more times and experienced what Raditz had called dreams. Most were either pleasant or just illogical, but one night…

Peridot woke up with a scream, breathing hard and clutching her chest. Sweat dripped down her forehead. "Wha? What's going on?" the Saiyan groaned as he awoke near by. "Peridot? What's with all the noise? I was trying to…" he started, getting up. He then saw how hard she was breathing and the panic in her eyes. He looked at her with amusement. "Jeeze, what's with you? Did a spider crawl up your spine or something?" he asked.

"It was...I-I saw Yellow D-Diamond…" she stuttered, looking at him fearfully, "She wanted me shattered!"

The Saiyan stopped smiling as he looked at her. He remembered having dreams like that of Frieza. He knelt down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey...It's ok. It was just a dream," he assured, "She's a billion miles away right now. She can't even touch you."

The frighten gem looked at him for a moment before nodding and calming down slightly. "I think I'm going to stay away from sleep for a while," she said, looking down.

Raditz nodded. "Suit yourself," he said, getting back into bed. He looked back at the still shaken gem. He sighed as he already regretted what he was about to say. "If it'll make you feel better…," he grumbled, "...you can watch that 'Camp Pine Hearts' or whatever it's called…" Peridot looked at him in surprise. "...but only one time, alright?" he warned. Peridot nodded excitedly before sliding down the ladder to go find the tape. Raditz sighed as she climbed back up and turned on the TV.

"Raditz?" she said as the theme song began.

"Hm?" he grunted, opening one eye.

"Thank you," she said, smiling at him.

"Whatever…" he responded, tucking himself in.


	45. It Could Have Been Great

With one final screw in place, the job was done. It had taken them weeks of hard labor, bonding, and misadventures, but it was finally done. The Z fighters and Raditz stood around and clapped as the gazed upon the completed drill. Peridot and Bulma smiled as they looked upon their work. "Well done, Peridot," Piccolo said, patting her on the shoulder. The small gem jumped slightly at the contact, but appreciated it all the same.

"So are you guys all set then?" Bulma asked.

"Oh!" Peridot gasped, "Hold on!" She climbed up the ladder into the cockpit of the drill.

"She's really come a long way," Steven noted, "And to think a few weeks ago, we were trying to kill each other." Raditz looked at them all in confusion.

"Like she would have been able to kill us with that peashooter," Vegeta scoffed.

"Her cohorts might of, but thank goodness they're still boiling at the bottom of the ocean," Piccolo noted.

"What exactly happened before I showed up?" Raditz asked.

They were unable to answer him, as she suddenly stuck her head out of the cockpit. "Coordinates!" she shouted, "We still need the coordinates of the cluster!"

"How are we going to get those?" Steven asked.

"Well there might be one way," Peridot said climbing down, "There's a diamond base in this facet that should contain that information. However, it's near impossible to get to from here."

"Why? where is it?" Goku asked.

"It's located on your planet's natural satellite," she explained.

Goku blinked in confusion.

"She means the moon," Piccolo clarified.

"Oh…" Goku nodded in understanding, "I guess that would be impossible. At least for Vegeta and I. Even if we had a way of getting there, we'd end up destroying the place by going Oozaru."

"Actually, You're wrong," Raditz piped up, "It's not the moon itself that's the problem, it's the light it reflects. I've landed on several moons before and nothing has happened."

"Ok then, I guess all we need is a way there then," Goku said.

"I know!" Steven announced, "Lion!"

….

The Z Fighters, Steven and Peridot landed in the moon base and Lion collapsed to the ground. "Good Job, lion, you've earned your naps for the day," Steven assured the pink cat.

"After we get back, I am never doing that again!" Peridot announced, gripping her arms, "That was worse than that yellow cloud thing!"

"It doesn't... look like the moon," Steven noted as he looked around.  
The group examined the room, using balls of ki energy as flashlights. "Hey, what's this?" Goku asked, looking at a panel. He placed his hand on it, and a door opened up leading to the the surface of the moon. They all began to be violently pulled towards the vacuum of space. Piccolo had to grab Steven to keep him from flying off. Goku slammed his hand back on the panel, causing it to close again. "Well, We're definitely on the moon!" he said, laughing nervously.

"Kakarot, you idiot!" Vegeta snapped, "Don't mess with things if you don't know what they are!"

"Sorry!" he said, holding his hands up.

Suddenly, the heard Steven laughing. They turned to see him bouncing around the room. "Whoa!" he cried, "look at me! I'm a moon boy!"

Goku smiled. "Haha, alright moon boy! Wait for me!" he cried, bounding after him, "This is awesome! I wish I could do this more often!"

"Why? You can fly!" Piccolo said, "Now get down from there. We don't need to be messing around. Who knows how much air we have in this building."

"Aww, you're no fun!" Goku whined as he floated back down. After they had gotten back to the ground and Peridot gave a brief yet enthusiastic explanation of the diamonds, they headed up the steps. They found themselves in a huge observatory facing the Earth.

"We really are on the moon," Steven breathed.

"It's beautiful…" Goku noted as he stared at the blue planet. The other Z fighters looked up at it and smiled as well.  
Peridot interrupted them, however, as she rushed giddily over to a control panel. "Oh my goodness! This looks like it could be brand new!" she gushed, "I mean it's a relic by today's standards, but, golly! It's so elegant, so simple, so perfect!"  
"So how do you turn it on?" Piccolo asked.  
"I have no idea," Peridot stated.

All of a sudden the device activated. They turn to see Steven accidentally turned it on. "Hey, it's got one of those glowy hand dealies!" he announced as he sat at the giant chair in front of the panel.  
"You can't sit there!" Peridot exclaimed, running up to him.  
Steven frowned. "Why not? It's really cool," he asked.

"That chair is only for the most elite Gems," she explained, "you can't go around sitting where an Elite would sit."  
"Well they aren't here now," Steven said.  
Peridot glanced to the left nervously. "Here," Goku said, picking her up, "Let me help you." He then set her down on the giant chair. Peridot began grinning like an idiot before giggling.  
She quickly composed herself, however. "Okay, let's see here…" she said, pressing a few buttons on the arm panel of the chair. It then moved closer to the control panel. The screen switched between seven files represented by diamond shapes.  
"Gotta find the right file…" she muttered as she shuffled through them, "Cluster, Cluster where are you, Cluster? Aha!" one of the files opened to reveal a diagram of the Earth. "There's the insertion point. Looks like the Beta Kindergarten in Facet Nine. It's the smaller of the two," she explained.  
"But where is the cluster now?" Piccolo asked.  
Peridot started scrolling through the files again. "Hang on... there it is!" she said, pulling up another diagram, "It's embedded deep into the mantle, relative to the barn it's roughly two thousand five hundred units down. All we need to do is feed this data to the drill and we should be all set."  
"That's it then," Piccolo observed, "That went fairly smoothly."  
"Good job, Peridot!" Goku said, causing the green gem to grin.

"Great, now we can head out and take care of this mess," Vegeta stated, starting to walk back to the stairs.  
"Wait!" Steven said observing the chair, "Hold on, does this thing have any games on it?"  
"No no no no," Peridot said, laughing, "this wasn't used for games. It was used for planning a colony. Here, look." She began messing with the controls again.

"That's ok, Peridot," Piccolo started, "We don't need to see-"  
It was too late. A map of Earth appeared on the screen. "So here is a map of all structures that were originally built on Earth," she explained, flipping through some images of the different structures, including the sea spire, the communication hub, and something that resembled kami's lookout, "All told, this probably only accounts for maybe, five percent of what was originally planned."  
"What was the plan?" Steven asked.

"Steven!" Vegeta grunted in warning.

"Well, let's take a look," Peridot said, ignoring him and tapping on the controls again.

"Peridot, I really don't think that's-" Goku started, concern written on his face. Before he could finish, the hologram changed from an image of Earth to a hollowed out version, with rings and spires all around around it. The Z fighters expressions all became grave as they stared at the husk the Earth could have become. Goku looked at in horror. Vegeta glared at it while Piccolo looked disgusted.

The only one who looked at it positively was Peridot. "Ta-da! A finished Earth colony," she presented with pride, "Wow, look at this! Eighty-nine kindergartens, sixty-seven spires, a Galaxy Warp in each facet, efficient use of all available materials." Goku became more and more visibly sick with each word she spoke. "What was Rose thinking, shutting this operation down? It could've been great!" Peridot finished, hands outstretched.  
"No! You're wrong!" Goku shouted, slamming his hand on the control panel, causing a large dent.  
Peridot looked at his hand nervously before speaking. "W-What do you mean? It's perfect, look at it!" she said.  
"We are looking at it," Vegeta growled.  
"And we don't like it," Piccolo said.

"Completing this would have meant the destruction of all life on Earth!" Goku exclaimed.

"Rose Quartz believed all life was precious, and worth protecting," Piccolo stated.

"Well if she wanted to protect it she did a lousy job!" Peridot said angrily. Steven and the Z fighters looked at her in shock, but she didn't seem to notice. "There'd be no cluster if the Earth had stayed a colony," she ranted, "Now there's no colony, and there's gonna be no Earth, so thank you, Rose Quartz! You doomed the planet!"  
Steven looked between the Z fighters nervously as they all glared daggers at Peridot. If looks could kill, Peridot would have been blasted out of existence by now, even by Goku whose fists were currently shaking.

"Uh guys, maybe we-" Steven started, trying to diffuse the situation, but it was too late. Vegeta suddenly grabbed Peridot by the front of her uniform and slammed her against the panel. "What did you say about Rose Quartz?!" he growled. A ball of ki formed in his other hand. Peridot  
whimpered as she looked up at him in fear. "You don't know a thing about her, you imp!" he roared at the gem, "She sacrificed everything for this planet! She fought off invasion after invasion and saved billions of lives over thousands of years! She gave this world a chance! She gave US a chance! Do you call that lousy?! Huh?!"

"Vegeta, stop! Please!" Steven pleaded, but Vegeta didn't listen. Peridot shook in fear as the ball of ki energy grew larger in his hand and his grip tightened.

Suddenly a green hand was placed on the shorter Saiyan's shoulder. "Vegeta stop," Piccolo said tersely, between clenched teeth, "She doesn't understand what she's talking about. Hurting her will solve nothing." Steven looked to Piccolo. He didn't look any less angry, and he avoided looking at Peridot.

Vegeta's grip loosened slightly, but he didn't let go of the green gem. Then Goku spoke up. "Rose believed that all life held value," he said, "that means hers too."

After a moment's pause, he dropped the green gem and caused the ball of ki in his hand to disperse. The three started walking downstairs without a word as Peridot picked herself up.

"W-what did I say?" she asked Steven once they were gone, "I was just stating a fact and they blew up on me! The Rebellion didn't really save Earth, it just delayed the inevitable."

"It's not that Peridot," Steven said with a sigh, "They're really sensitive when it comes to Rose Quartz. She was practically their mother, and they take looking after the planet she cared for very seriously. And you just said all her work was useless." Steven started walking away towards the stairs. After a moment, he noticed Peridot wasn't with him. "Peridot?" he called.

"Coming!" she responded, chasing after him. As she did so, he noticed something behind her back. I was some kind of diamond shape. Steven frowned as he saw it, a deep hollow feeling resonated in his stomach as he caught sight of it, but he kept his mouth shut as he followed her down the stairs.


	46. Message Received

"She took a direct line to the diamonds?!" Piccolo questioned. Anger was written on his face. All of the Z fighters looked upset, particularly Goku.

"Grr...That little brat!" Raditz hissed as he glared at the diamond shaped communicator, "I actually started to feel sorry for her! I guess it just goes to show you can't trust a gem..." His arms were crossed over his chest. He and Bulma also stood around the device.

"I didn't," Vegeta stated, "I saw this coming from the beginning." Steven looked at him in surprise.

"I kinda saw it coming too…" Piccolo admitted, "Not at first, but once Vegeta threatened to kill her, it was only a matter of time."

Bulma blinked in confusion. "I'm sorry, but when did that happen?" she questioned.

"while we were on the moon," Vegeta explained with a shrug.

The two outsiders gave them odd looks. "You know, now I wish I could have come along," Raditz said.

"Well I didn't see it coming!" Goku exclaimed, "I thought she was starting to like us! She spent time with us and we shared jokes and worked on the drill together...She really seemed to enjoy Steven and Gohan's company too…"

Suddenly, a horn started honking in the background. "I see she knows what a horn is now!" Steven muttered. He then sighed. "Why did I trust her? I spent so much time caring about her..." Steven asked, "I tried to help her get used to life on Earth, but now this happens! I should have known…She tried to kill us for pete's sake!"

"To be fair, you weren't the only one who started trusting her," Bulma offered.

"It might be because she doesn't look like a threat," Raditz offered, "She's too small and weak to do any kind of physical damage on her own, and she doesn't look very intimidating so it's easy to let yoour gaurd down around her."

"But why did I think I could change her mind about Earth! She still thinks the Earth is better off as a colony!" Steven exclaimed, "You're on our side, Raditz, and you don't even like Earth! How was I supposed to change her mind?"

Piccolo put a hand on his shoulder. "It's 'cause you believe in everyone Steven. Like your mother, you have a little more patience than the rest of us. But the truth is, not everyone deserves that patience," Piccolo said.

"Raditz and I can think of a couple hundred alone not worth anyone's patience, including Yellow Diamond herself," Vegeta added, and Raditz nodded.  
"Look on the bright side," Goku said, bending down to eye level, "At least you got that thing away from her before she did any harm."  
"...Yeah," Steven said with a sigh.

"So," Vegeta said with a smirk, cracking his knuckles, "Since Steven couldn't teach her to love Earth, let's go teach her a different less-"  
Suddenly, an explosion could be heard. The six of them stumbled as the earth shook slightly.  
They all turned to the barn. "Oh no!" Steven shouted. Bulma's giant mecha stepped out of the hole in the barn.  
"Free, freeeee! Ahahaha!" Peridot cheered over the intercom.

"What the hell?!" Raditz cried, "What is that?! Where did she get it?!"

"That's the robot I built!" Bulma cried angrily, "She stole my giant robot!"

"Why do you have a giant robot?!" Raditz responded, "Where were you even keeping it?"

"In a capsule! Duh," Bulma said.

"She and Peridot built giant robots a week or so before you showed up…" Steven explained, regret clear on his face, "Oh why did we have to have that contest! Why couldn't it have been best scale model?"

"You're kidding me…" Raditz huffed in disbelief and agitation, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Well this is just great! Anything else I should know about?!"

"Yeah! You need to know to look out!" Piccolo shouted. A truck was sent flying at them. They all jumped out of the way, dropping the communicator in the process.

"Fools! Your invisible rotary shield was no match for me... once I applied logic!" Peridot shouted as she ran towards where they had been, "Now I'm going to do this right!" She then picked up the communicator, opened the head of the robot, dropped it inside, closed the head compartment, and then ran off.  
"I'll take care of this," Raditz said, flying into the air. A ball of ki formed in his hand. "Get a taste of my Saturday Crush!" he cried, firing the ball of pink energy at the robot. As it hit it's target, it exploded into a huge burst of light. The fighters had to block their eyes from the bright light. When they looked back, they were surprised to find that the robot was still standing, with barely a scratch on it. Raditz jaw dropped.

"See? None of you know what you doing!" Peridot cried running away.  
"What the hell…" Raditz muttered, "What the hell! How did it stand up to that?!"

"I built it to withstand ki blasts," Bulma explained, regret clear in her voice.

"Of course you did…" Raditz sighed facepalming, "This is what I meant by 'Anything else I should know about'!"

"No time for complaining!" Piccolo shouted, "Let's go!" Vegeta, Piccolo, and Raditz took off after the gem.  
"Nimbus!" Goku called before running over to grab Steven.

"Stupid Peridot, stupid giant robot! Oh why, oh why did I have to encourage her?" he muttered as Goku picked him up and carried him under his arm.  
"You can feel bad later," he said, setting the boy on the cloud before hopping on himself, "We have to catch Peridot before she calls Yellow Diamond. Then you can mope all you want and Chichi can give you cookie dough or ice cream or something to help you feel better." With that, they zoomed off.

…

The Z-fighters and Raditz caught up with Peridot soon enough. Vegeta Blasted the bot from the side,causing it to stumble a bit. "Give up now, Peridot and we may show mercy!" he shouted.

"No! I have to do this!" she shouted at him, "I'm going to solve this problem once and for all!" She attempted to swat them out of the sky, but they dodged.

Then Raditz flew in front of her. "Peridot, think for five seconds about what you're doing!" Raditz shouted, "Do you really think that pompous yellow space rock gives a damn about you? She has literally sold gems by the hundred to Frieza for planets! If you call her, at best she'll ignore you!"

"It's not the same! I'm still of use to her!" she cried, "You don't understand! None of you do! Your minds are all being clouded by your emotions." She then switched into overdrive and sped ahead, knocking Raditz out of the way. he growled before chasing after her.

Piccolo, Raditz, and Vegeta tried to make a dent in the robot's armor form above. Meanwhile Steven and Goku flew behind them on the nimbus. "How are we going to stop it?" Steven asked.

"Look!" Goku said, pointing to the bot's arms. "There's a lot of damage around the joints!"

"They must be weaker!" Steven observed, "Goku, let's move towards the legs!"

The two flew lower and got closer to the mecha. "Do you want to try this one?" Goku asked.

Steven nodded. He got into position and Goku helped support the boy for the inevitable push back. "Kaaaa-meeeh…." Steven started, bringing his hands together, "Haaaaah-meeeeh…." A glowing ball of blue energy formed in his hands. "HAAAAAA!" he shouted, releasing the energy. The beam of light hurdled forward and hit the inside of the droid's knee. There was an explosion as the leg came clean off.

"Waaaaa!" Peridot cried over the intercom as the robot tilted over and fell into the ditch. The Z fighters and Raditz gathered around the mecha and began blasting it, attempting to force peridot out. She press a button, however, and the torso detached from the waste of the robot. A rocket thrust the upper half across the field for a moment. Peridot opened the hatch of the head compartment and crawled out.

The warriors chased after her, hoping to catch her before she managed to turn on the communicator, but it was already too late. As they got close, they saw it begin to glow as it floated into the air. Raditz and Vegeta's eyes simultaneously widened as they saw the yellow light of the screen. "GET DOWN!" they both simultaneously shouted, grabbing and forcing Piccolo, Goku, and Steven to the ground, behind the torso of the robot.

"Gah! What the hell?!" Piccolo growled, "What was that-"

"SHHH!" Vegeta hissed, "We can't let anyone on the other line know we're here!"

"If Yellow Diamond finds out there are Saiyans on Earth, then we are all doomed!" Raditz explained in a low voice.

"This is the Yellow Diamond control room," a voice rang out.

Vegeta and Raditz shared confused looks. "That's not what she sounds like…" Raditz whispered. The warriors all peaked over the edge to see a very irritated looking gem on the screen. She had a smooth gem on her chest and a pointed nose and hair.

"What kind of gem is that?" Steven whispered, "She kind of looks like you Vegeta…"

The Saiyan glared at him while Raditz and Piccolo grinned slightly. "She's a Pearl," he explained.

Goku looked at him in confusion. "You mean like-" he started, but was cut off by a new voice.

"Why is there someone on the Diamond line?" the voice asked. This voice the two Saiyans did recognize.

"I don't know!" the pearl stuttered, "I was just about to tell her that-"  
"I'll take it from here," the voice sighed before a giant hand grabbed the communicator and brought it up to eye level. Yellow diamond had pointed hair, a long neck, and broad shoulders. In the background, the warriors noticed another communication channel open. Vegeta and Raditz's eyes grew wide with horror and their tails grew stiff as they saw the figure in the projection. He was unmistakeable with his horned head and white armor.

"Frieza…" Vegeta hissed.

"What is the meaning of this?" he growled, "We were in the middle of an important negotiation!" Peridot swallowed nervously.

"I'm Sorry Frieza, I will get right back to you," Yellow Diamond said, "I just have to deal with this for a moment." The reptilian alien nodded, glaring coldly at Peridot before she closed his screen. "Now what is it?" she asked.

Vegeta and Raditz both relaxed at the window's close. "That's Yellow Diamond?" Steven asked.

"Yes…" Vegeta growled, "Now be quiet!"

"This says you're behind schedule on your mission to…" she said, pulling up a screen and pausing. "How is... the Earth?" she asked carefully, with much greater interest.  
"It's...full of life," Peridot responded, slightly embarrassed.  
"Organic life…" Yellow Diamond said in a disgusted tone, "and where is the Jasper I assigned you? And why aren't you calling from the ship?"

The warriors stiffened at the question. Peridot seemed to hesitate before responding. "The ship was destroyed," she finally said.  
Yellow Diamond raised an eyebrow. "By whom?" she questioned.  
Peridot hesitated again. The Z warriors ducked behind the torso of the machine. "That's it…we're doomed…" Piccolo muttered, resting his face in his hands. The others seemed similarly hopeless.

"I-I-I-It was destroyed by…" Peridot said, "no one! There was... an accident... while we were...landing?" The Z warriors looked up at that, peeking over the edge again.

"I'll inform your manager of your incompetence," Yellow diamond growled.

"She didn't give us away…"Raditz muttered, "Why? She's only making things worse for herself…"

"Maybe she really does care about us…" Goku thought.  
"Wait!" Peridot said, grabbing their attention again, "I-I wouldn't called to waste your time with a report. The reason I called... the real reason is... I believe we should terminate The Cluster." The Z fighter's grew wide again at that.  
Yellow Diamond turned to her slowly. "...Why?" she asked, eyes narrowed.  
"The organic ecosystem creates resources unique to this world, we can't sacrifice all that potential just for one geo-weapon!" Peridot explained, "I'd like to tell you some plans I came up with to utilize a planet without disrupting the local-"  
"I've heard enough! I don't care about potential and resources," the diamond interrupted.  
"What?!" Peridot questioned.  
"I want my Cluster, and I want that planet to die. Just make that happen," she stated.  
"Told you she didn't give a damn…" Raditz hissed.

"No!" Peridot shouted, throwing everyone off gaurd.

"Did she just-" Piccolo started.

"She did…" Goku breathed, smiling.

Yellow Diamond was not so happy. "You have disrespected this channel and my time with your presence and you would do well to-" she started.  
"But-"  
"-Shut your mouth!" she ordered. Peridot's lips clamped shut. Yellow Diamond took a breath before continuing. "You have failed at every stage of this mission. Your only chance to redeem yourself is to obey this simple order," she said, "You are to leave the Cluster to grow. It will tear apart the Earth, and I will take immense satisfaction in erasing that hideous rock off of our star maps. Is that clear?!"

"I won't do it!" Peridot shouted, "I can tell you with certainty that there are things on this planet worth protecting!" Now all of the warriors were smiling at her, even Vegeta.  
"What do you know about the Earth?" Yellow Diamond snapped at her.  
"Apparently more than YOU! You... CLOD!" Peridot shouted back. Everyone's jaw dropped at that.

"Holy shit…" Raditz breathed.

Peridot immediately shut down as she saw the diamond's reaction to her outburst. Vegeta could honestly say he had never seen a more livid expression. "Ah! Peridot, out!" she squeaked before turning off the device. It took a few moments for everything she had just done to sink in...which caused her to fall to her knees. The warriors had a very different reaction as they stepped out from behind the robot. Vegeta slowly clapped, although still in shock from what he had witnessed.

"That was AMAZING!" Steven said, running up to her and hugging her.  
"I can't believe I just did that…" she whispered.  
Goku picked them up and set them on his shoulders. "All right Peridot!" he cheered.

"I can't believe I just did that…" she repeated.

"You can't believe it? I can't believe it!" Raditz said between fits of laughter, "You insulted her to her FACE! That's like if I tried to punch Frieza in the jaw at my current power! Way to go squirt!"

"Well done," Piccolo said placing a hand on her shoulder.  
Peridot didn't respond, she only handed the communicator over to Goku. "Can one of you take this?" she asked in deadpan.  
"Why?" he asked.  
"Because it can be remotely detonated," she stated.  
Goku then dropped the two short gems as the communicator began to glow. All of them looked at it in fear. "How do we stop it?!" Goku cried as he bounced it between his hands.  
"Just get rid of it!" Piccolo shouted. Goku dropped it, and Vegeta punted it as hard as he could. It flew up into the air before exploding.

They then turned back to peridot. "Do you know what this means?" Steven asked.

"That I'm a traitor," she stated bluntly, still staring off into space.

"No! It means you're one of us now!" he said hugging her again, "Isn't that great?"

Despite their cheers, Peridot felt low. Lower than she had ever felt before. She had just betrayed her diamond. She had just betrayed her people. She had doomed herself to an eternal life on this planet. There was only one response she had to that:

"Uuuuuggghhhh!"

…..

"Ka-me-ha-me…" Krillin began as he looked out over the ocean, the energy forming in his hands.

"Uuuuggghhhh!"

"WAAHH," he screeched as he lost his focus and subsequently control over the energy. It exploded in front of him and pushed him back into a rock wall. "The heck was that…" he said, rubbing his head as he got up.

….

"Uuuuggghhhh!"

Frieza looked up from his glass of wine curiously as the noise reverberated through the room. What was that? His attention was diverted from it as there was a sudden beep at his communication panel. "Ah, that must have been Yellow Diamond finishing dealing with her subordinate," he reasoned as he answered her call.

….

"Uuuuuggghhhh!"

"YAAAH!" Tarble suddenly fell out of bed at the noise. He jumped up into a fighting position and looked around wildly. "Who's there? Show yourself!" he demanded.

"Sweatheart…" his wife called from their bed, rubbing her eyes, "I think it was just an animal in the woods. Go back to sleep."

"hmmm…." he said, tapping his chin, "Maybe I should go see where it is and help it...It sounded like it was in a lot of pain…"

"I'm sure it's alright," his wife reasoned, "You can go looking for it in the morning. You'll never find it out in the dark. Now come back to bed."

Tarble nodded. "Yes dear," he said as he crawled under the sheets. "I hope it's alright…" he said with a yawn.

….

Trunks was welding together the top and bottom half of the time machine. He smiled to himself. Only a few more days of work and they'll be able to fix this horrible future.

"Uuuuuggghhhh!"

Trunks stopped his welding and his head shot up. What the heck was that? It didn't sound like one of the androids. He pulled his face shield off and put down his tools. "Hey, Ruba, did you hear that?" he asked.

The other alien hybrid wheeled herself out from under the machine. She sat up and took off her safety goggles letting them hang around her neck. "Yeah, it sounded like Peridot…" she said scratching her head, ruffling her long black hair in the process.

She stood up and cupped her hands to her mouth. "Yo, Peri!" she called down the hall, "You doin' alright?"

The green gem stepped out of her room and into the hall, coffee in hand, with a very annoyed and tired look on her face. "I'm trapped in an apocalyptic world where I'm constantly aware that at any minute I may die at the hands of two smart mouthed cyborgs," she stated, "You tell me." She then stepped back into her room to continue her work.

There was a momentary pause before Ruba turned back to Trunks. "Yeah, she's fine!" she said waving her hand dismissively. The two of them then returned to their work.


	47. Wish Granted?

Emperor Pilaf stood before the glowing dragon balls. "Eternal Dragon! Come forth!" he cried. A golden light exploded from the seven jewels. The tiny ruler laughed maniacally as he stared at it while his cohorts shielded their eyes. Finally, his wish was going to come true! He would be ruler of the entire Earth and there was no way for anyone to stop him! He had those brats locked away and they had no way out. His eyes widened in glee as the dragon took form from the light.

Little did he know, those meddling kids were not so secure as they thought. "GALIC GUN!" Vegeta cried, blowing a hole through the wall, big enough for all of them to fit through.

Bulma and Goku smiled while Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar looked on in shock. "W-Woah…" Yamcha said, "I didn't know the guy was that strong!"

"Remind me to never get him angry!" Oolong muttered, "I don't want to end up as a pork roast."

"That was awesome!" Goku exclaimed, "That's the best I've seen of that move yet! We should work on it together. Maybe we can figure out a way to combine it with the Kamehameha wave once I master it!"

"You're the best Vegeta!" Bulma said, giving him a peck on the cheek. The Saiyan blushed slightly and looked away, crossing his arms over his chest. He had gotten used to much of the blue-haired girl's mannerisms, including her temper and somewhat vain nature. He even started admiring her intelligence. However, he had yet get used to her flirtiness and her choices in displaying affection.

"Oh no," Yamcha shouted, "He's already summoned the dragon!" He pointed out to an open field where a large green being could be seen.

"No! My wish!" Bulma whined, "We're too late!"

Vegeta glared at the spot in the field where the emperor was. "No we're not!" he said. He then scooped Bulma up bridal style.

"Hey! What are you-" Bulma cried. He then took off towards the field with her in his arms. Goku hailed the nimbus and flew after them. Yamcha and the others looked on in surprise for a moment before starting to climb down the tower.

...

The three landed a few paces behind them. Shu and Mai turned to look at them in surprise and fear. "Uhhh...Emperor?" Shu stuttered.

"Not now, Shu, I'm busy!" Pilaf snapped, not turning around. "Dragon!" he cried, "I have but one wish! I wish to-" He was cut off, however, as Vegeta ran up to him and punted him from behind. The tiny emperor screamed as he flew past the dragon and across the sky, disappearing with a twinkle in the distance.

"Emperor!" Shu and Mai cried. Their jaws he dropped as they watched him fly away. They were pulled out of their shock as Goku jumped in front of the, power pole poised for attack. The two screamed and ran away.

"Alright, Bulma!" Goku said, "You can go ahead and make your wish!"

"Thanks you guys!" she said hugging them both. She then turned to the dragon. "Alright! I'm ready to make my wish!" she said.

"State your desire, and I shall grant it," the dragon bellowed.

"I wish…" She said, "For the perfect boyfriend for me!"

Vegeta faltered as he stared at her with disbelief as the dragon's eyes began to glow. He had been curious as to what her wish was, but he hadn't thought it would have been something so ridiculous! A boyfriend?! Really?! He risked his life for her over and over so she could wish for a boyfriend?! He was about to tell her off for it, when he suddenly felt a tingling sensation overcome him. He looked down to see himself surrounded in a strange red light, much like the light emanating from the dragon's eyes. Neither Goku nor Bulma seemed to notice as they stared up at the dragon. Vegeta's eyes widened as realization hit him. Did this mean what he thought it meant?

The light surrounding him subsided as the light in the dragon's eyes did. "It is done. I will take my leave," the Eternal Dragon roared.

Bulma looked confused. "Wait, you didn't do anything!" she cried, "You didn't grant my wish! Get back here you scaley jerk!" But it was too late. The dragon disappeared and the dragon balls were scattered. "But I didn't get my wish!" she lamented, "What a rip off!"

"Maybe the dragon didn't do anything because it was already answered," Goku said with a shrug. Vegeta looked away awkwardly.

"What do you mean? Is my boyfriend already here?" she asked.

"Well…" Vegeta started.

"Bulma!" Yamcha called. Everyone turned to see Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar riding towards them in a capsule scooter. He stopped in front of them. "What happened? Did Pilaf get his wish?" he asked.

Bulma stared at him for a moment before a huge grin broke out over her face. "No," she said, "but I got mine!" she then threw her arms around him. Yamcha blushed as Puar and Oolong looked on in surprise. Goku looked confused and Vegeta's eye twitched as his face went blank. Did...did that just really happen? "Come on! Let's get out of here, Yamcha!" she said as they hopped on the scooter. She hugged him from behind as they did so.

"O-ok…" Yamcha stuttered, still blushing.

Vegeta groaned and ran his hands down his face. Well this was just great. Not only were they stuck in the middle of nowhere and the dragon balls had been wasted on a stupid wish, but now his apparent "perfect match" was convinced that hers was someone else. Well, at least nothing else could go wrong.

"Hey, why is Goku just staring at the moon?" Oolong asked.

Vegeta's eyes flew open in horror. "Oh Kami damnit…" he thought.


	48. Surprises at The Tournament

"I can't believe it," Krillin said in excitement as stared at the crowd of people, "We're actually here!" Krillin exclaimed. It was the 21st world martial arts tournament. The preliminaries would be starting soon and the boys were both excited. Goku and Krillin wore their Turtle Hermit uniforms with pride.

"I wish Vegeta were participating. He would have loved it!" Goku exclaimed. Vegeta had shown up to train with them for about a month but left when he figured out that Master Roshi had no intention of teaching them actual fighting moves or techniques and that most of his training consisted of exercises he could perform back at the temple. He felt no reason to stick around the annoying old pervert or deal with his shinanagains and left the next day to go training around the world.

"Hey Goku!" a voice called. He turned to see Yamcha, Puar, Oolong, and Bulma amongst the crowd. The young Saiyan smiled at them and waved. "It's been awhile since we've last seen you!" Yamcha said walking up to them, "No surprise that you're here. Though I'm surprised that Vegeta isn't. Where is he, anyways?"

"He went back to train on his own. I told our other master about the tournament, so he might come, but I don't think he'll be fighting," Goku explained.

"Well that's good," Yamcha said chuckling, "As much as I'd like to see how far you've come, I don't think I'd want to go a few rounds with him just yet."

"Yeah, that kid is plain scary when it comes to combat," Oolong noted.

"Yeah, he's pretty good," Goku said, "But I think I've caught up to him a little more. I hope he and Rose show up to watch. I'd really like to show them how far I've come."

Krillin, Yamcha, and the others aside from Bulma looked confused. "Who's Rose?" Yamcha asked.

Oolong snorted. "Don't tell me you found a girl of your own in the past few months," he joked, "Aren't you a little young to be dating?" Goku blinked at him in confusion.

Bulma promptly smacked him on the back of the pig's head. "Stop it you!" she snapped, "Rose is like his and Vegeta's mom!"

The others blinked in surprise. "Really?" Krillin asked, "For some reason I thought you were some kind of wild child living on your own in the forest before I met you."

"Nah. Rose has been looking after me for most of my life," Goku said, hands behind his head, "She taught me everything I knew about martial arts before I started training under Roshi."

The two fighters and two shape shifters looked surprised. "Wow, she must be really strong!" Puar said.

"Oh yeah, she's the best fighter there is!" Goku chirped proudly, "She's stopped all kinds of bad guys and takes on giant monsters all the time by herself. She can survive almost anything too! One time she even got back up after being crushed by a giant rock!"

The four were taken aback by this information. Bulma was mildly surprised, though not as much as the others. The two had told her about gems and what they were. "W-Well...that explains a few things…" Oolong said chuckling nervously.

Goku was oblivious to their nerves. Suddenly, his stomach began to growl. "I'll see you later, guys! I'm gonna go find something to eat!" he said before running off.

"Wait! Goku!" Bulma said, chasing after him, "You don't have any money! You can't get food without money!"

With that, his four other friends were left alone. "Well...Goku and Vegeta's mom certainly sounds like an interesting person…" Yamcha breathed.

"No kidding," Oolong said.

"At least we know where they get all their craziness from…" Krillin muttered. The three others nodded.

"It makes you wonder what she looks like," Puar said. The three others immediately regretted him saying that, for the next thing that came to their minds was of an angry, muscular, monkey woman with wild, spiky black hair and plenty of scars, laughing victoriously as she stood upon a fallen monster. They all shuttered simultaneously.

"I hope I don't have a run in with her!" Oolong said. The other three nodded in agreement.

….

The preliminaries finished with all three fighters making it to the finals. Their first trial was over. The next one they faced was much more difficult: finding a good place to watch amid the crowd of people. Launch, Puar, Oolong, and Bulma searched far and wide, but couldn't find a spot anywhere.

"I can't believe it! There's barely enough standing room for me, and I'm puny!" Oolong commented.

"There's no way we can watch from here…" Bulma said pouting.

"Here. Let me take care of it!" Launch said, cocking her machine gun, "Ok, everyone out of the way!" After a round of gunfire, a everyone within ten square feet cleared out of the area...that is except two. A tall woman with huge pink hair and a teen standing next to her with spiky black hair stood right in front of the stage, blocking their view.

"Hey lady! Back it up, we want to see too!" Launch snapped at her.

The pair turned to her in mild confusion, but neither looked the least bit threatened. "Oh, it's just Launch," the boy said, brushing her threat off.

The blonde looked confused for a second before recognition crossed her face. "Wait, you're the kid that was with Goku and Krillin for a while!" she said.

"Vegeta!" Oolong, Puar, and Bulma ran up to them.

"Vegeta, it's so good to see you again!" Bulma said, "How have you been?"

He nodded to her. "You're looking well," he observed stoically. "I've been the same as always. Although I wish someone had told me about this tournament," he explained with a hint of annoyance, "I would have liked the chance to compete, though honestly, it might have been a bit boring for me. Most of the competitors have pretty weak power levels."

"Bulma!" the woman with pink hair chipped with a smile as she shook her hand, "It's been so long since we've last seen each other! Did you enjoy your quest for the dragon balls?"

Bulma nodded. "Yup!" she said with a smile, "I got exactly what I wanted!" Vegeta rolled his eyes at her and crossed his arms.

Puar and Oolong gave confused look. "Uh Bulma, do you know this lady?" Oolong asked.

"Oh where are my manners," the woman said, "My name is Rose Quartz. It's a pleasure to meet you." The chubby woman extended a hand out to them and smiled.

Oolong blinked in surprise. "Wait...are you the Rose that looked after Goku and Vegeta?!" he questioned.

"Yes, that is me," she answered.

"You aren't quite what we expected," Puar said awkwardly.

"Oh really?" Rose asked, "How so?"

"Well for starters, you don't look much like them…" Oolong mumbled.

"Why would we?" Vegeta said, "It's not like we're related to her. We aren't even the same species as her!"

"But I thought you said she was their mother!" Puar said to Bulma.

Rose and Vegeta shared odd looks. "Excuse me?" she said.

"I said 'like' their mom! To be fair though, she pretty much is their adoptive mother. She took them in as children and looked after them!" Bulma explained.

"That is true," Rose said with a small shrug.

"Well, whoever you are," Launch said, "If you're a friend of Goku's, You're alright with me." With that they all settled down to watch the first match. That didn't stop Oolong from glancing over to the tall woman from time to time. He could understand her being Goku's caretaker. There was definitely a resemblance in character. However, that created a whole new set of questions. If she wasn't related to either of the Saiyans, then how could everything Goku said about her be true? Aside from her height, her outward appearance was in no way intimidating. It was really hard to imagine this woman as a fighter let alone one of the strongest in the world. Who exactly was she?

….

Krillin watched the audience with curiosity after Goku's match with Giron. That tall, portly, pink haired woman had been watching Goku very carefully and cheering for him. Vegeta, Bulma and the others were standing near by her. "Hey Goku!" he said, "Do you know that woman wit the giant curly hair?"

"Yeah," Yamcha said, "She was really rooting for you."

"Oh her?" he said looking back at the audience with a smile, "That's Rose!" He then waved at her as the others faltered and gave looks of shock.

"That's your mom?!" Yamcha sputtered.

"Pretty much, yeah," Goku said.

"But she doesn't look anything like you guys!" Krillin exclaimed, "Does she even have a tail?"

"Well she's not a Saiyan like Vegeta and I," he explained, "She's a gem." "Rose found me when I was little and took me in after my grandpa died, and she took Vegeta in after he came to Earth a few years later," he explained.

"Oh! so she's your adoptive mother," Yamcha said with an understanding nod. Goku smiled and shrugged at him.

"She's the one who who taught you martial arts?" Krillin asked.

The young Saiyan frowned. "Yeah, why do you ask?" he asked.

"I just have a hard time believing it. She can't be as strong as you say," Krillin said, "Look at her! She looks like she couldn't hurt a fly."

"Don't be fooled by appearances, boys," Jackie Chung said, approaching them, "Rose Quartz is one of the most powerful fighters of all time. To my knowledge, there is not a single human being capable of defeating her."

The two human warriors looked at him in surprise, mouths open. "You serious?" Yamcha asked. The old man nodded at them. The two turned back to stare at the large cheery woman. Later, after the semi finals, the two watched as the young Saiyan ran up to her and gave her a hug. She smiled at him and mussed up his already messy hair as she returned it.

"It's really hard to imagine her as a warrior," Yamcha muttered.

"Well I guess when taking care of those two, you have to be tough," Krillin noted. Yamcha nodded in response.


	49. A Task for the Turtle Hermit

"Rose! Rose!" Goku called. The gem looked up from her flowers to see him flying towards her on the nimbus. She smiled and set down her watering pot as he landed and ran over to her. The boy jumped into her arms and she laughed as she caught him.

"Goku! It's so good to see you again!" she greeted, hugging him tightly, "Have you finished your quest? Did you have fun?"

Goku nodded happily. "Yeah! We met all sorts of different people, like a talking pig, some desert bandits, and the ox king and his daughter!" he elaborated, "We also fought an Emperor named Pilaf, and I got the flying nimbus!" He pointed to the yellow cloud he had been flying on.

"That's wonderful," she said, "but where is Vegeta? Is he back at the temple?"

Goku shook his head no. "He's completing a task for this martial arts master we found. He's going to be training us for a while! Isn't that great?" he said.

Rose smiled. "Yes it is," she said, "Just make sure to stay in touch with me, alright?"

Goku nodded. "Alright!" he said before his eyes widened in realization. "Oh right!" he said, "I almost forgot! I need your help with something. Our new Master wanted me to bring you back to his home to see him."

Rose blinked curiously. "What does he want me for?" she asked.

Goku shrugged. "I dunno. He just said he wanted me to bring him a girl," he said, "So will you come with me?"

Rose frowned for a moment. This sounded a little suspicious...but then, she knew she could handle herself. The best way to make sure everything was alright would be to go with him. "Alright," she said.

"Thanks Rose!" he said, hopping out of her arms. "Come on! Let's go!" he said, running over to the nimbus. The two hopped on and headed off to Roshi's island.

….

Master Roshi prepared the house, setting up drinks and putting on his best suit. It had been a lot time since he had a real girl around and he planned on making a good impression. He hoped Goku got the right kind of girl, however. He hadn't specified, after all. Well, as long as the boy didn't bring home someone too manish, he wouldn't have a problem. Besides, the other boy might bring back someone better anyways.

"Master Roshi! I'm back!" Goku called.

Well, no point in worrying now. He jumped out the door to find Goku standing next to a tall woman with pink hair. His eyes widened in shock as he saw her, and her palm met her forehead as she saw him.

"R-Rose?!" he sputtered fearfully.

"Oh dear...It's him…" she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Goku blinked in confusion, looking between the two. "Goku, how do you know this woman?!" Roshi questioned him.

"I live with her…Why do you ask?" he asked, "Do you two know each other?"

"Yes, Goku," she said, more patiently, "When you're as old as I am, you meet many different strange people...like Master Roshi."

"Great…" Roshi said shaking his head, "The first student I take on in years and he's one of Rose's too…"

Goku frowned, a look of worry crossed his face. "Is there something wrong with that?" he asked, "Can I still study martial arts with you?"

Roshi contemplated his answer. If he said yes, then he might have Rose breathing down his neck about behaving. If he said no, and broke the kid's heart in front of her…well he knew things wouldn't end well for him that way either. "Eh...It's up to the lady I'm afraid," he said, scratching the back of his head with his staff.

Goku then turned to Rose with pleading eyes. "Please Rose!" he said gripping her dress, "I really want to learn from him! And Vegeta does too! Won't you let us stay with him? I promise I'll behave and listen to him."

Rose chuckled slightly as she looked down at the child. "To be honest, I'm afraid he'll listen to him too much…" she said to herself. Still she couldn't say no to that face. "Alright," she said, "But let me have a word with Roshi first." Goku cheered and let go of her skirt. She then turned and walked over to the old man, gentle smile still on her face.

Roshi swallowed as she bent down to look him in the eye. "Now Roshi," she started, still smiling calmly, "I admit you are a great teacher and that my boys can learn alot from you." "I have great respect for your technique. You are a much more honorable man than your counterpart Shen," she continued, smile not leaving her face, "But you also have some rather nasty habits, and I would appreciate it greatly if you would behave yourself around them so those habits don't rub off on them. Goku particularly. Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am!" the turtle hermit responded quickly, saluting her.

She hummed in amusement before standing up straight again. "Good," she said, walking away. "Now that that's settled," she continued, "Goku? Would you mind taking me back to the temple?"

He turned to her and smiled. "Sure!" he said hopping back onto the nimbus.

Rose followed him. "Goodbye Roshi," she called cheerfully, "And good luck with my boys. Take good care of them, will you?"

The man nodded as they zoomed off. He breathed a sigh of relief as the disappeared. "Well that ruins any chance of me having fun for the next few months…" he said shaking his head, "I can never seem to catch a break...Though I wonder how the other kid is doing. Hopefully he'll bring me back someone better…" He then walked back inside the house.

….

Vegeta flew over the desert, a scowl on his face. He couldn't believe he was doing this. These lessons better be worth it! He was currently looking for a woman for the perverted martial artist. He had a pretty good idea what the guy was looking for if his morning workout video was any indication of his type.

He found a saloon and landed there. There might be a "bar maid" there he could bring back for the slimeball. As he walked in, he noticed a wanted poster on the wall. What was so intriguing about it was the fact that it was of a woman: a pretty blonde woman with a bandana. A mischievous smile crossed his face. What if he brought back a known criminal? It would certainly make things interesting, and if things got out of hand, he could easily disarm her. It would be the perfect way to get back at the old coot for how he treated Bulma if the criminal decided to rob the old man. Vidalia would certainly find the story funny too once he eventually told it to her.

Suddenly, the door to the saloon opened. Vegeta turned to see a blue haired woman walk through the door. Vegeta look from her to the poster curiously. She was wearing the exact same clothing as the woman on the poster, right down to the bandana. Was this the same woman in disguise? Vegeta sat down at a table and watched her carefully. As he did so, her realised that she didn't act like a criminal. If anything she acted like a ditz that couldn't even dream of hurting a fly. Vegeta was about to give up and leave when suddenly, she sneezed...and the blue hair turned to blonde.

And Vegeta smiled. The woman suddenly pulled out a gun and pointed it at the bartender, demanding all the cash in the register. She then ran out the door and hopped on her motorcycle. With that, Vegeta got up and began following her from a distance. Some cops started tracking her trail as well. When he had caught up to them, he found a confused blue haired girl surrounded by the police. Vegeta smiled. Oh this was going to be too easy. He then flew down and knocked out the first cop.


	50. A Promise Well Kept

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOHOO! Fifty chapters! I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far. I really appreciate all the support.

When she first told them she was pregnant, they were mostly ecstatic. Goku had been excited by the prospect of having another young one around. Piccolo had congratulated her as well. Veget was indifferent.

However, that changed when she explained to them what this meant for her. Piccolo had taken it the best. He had remained mostly calm, although he refused to talk to Greg. Goku went into denial. He refused to believe she was even capable of dying. "Even if you could, we can just wish you back with the dragon balls, right?" he asked hopefully to which she had sadly responded "no". Vegeta had taken it the worst out of all of them. He went on a rampage, leveling an entire mountain range in his blind fury. All the while, there was only question on his mind: Why. Why would she do this? Why did she have to die for that pathetic little human? Why did she care so much for that twerp? In Vegeta's mind, he was a dead beat idiot with no future. He wasn't a warrior. He wasn't a guardian. There was nothing spectacular about him at all! If he had wanted to, Vegeta could have squashed him beneath his boot. And now, Mr. Universe was about to cause the death of her.

Rose deserved better than this. She shouldn't be dying this way. If she was to die, she should be dying in battle, valiantly defending the planet she so cared for. Not because some broke little 'artist' managed to catch her eye. This was all his fault! If he ever had to look at that man's face again, he wouldn't be responsible for what happened next.

Vegeta floated over a burning forest. In his palm a ball of ki grew. As he prepared to fire it, a voice called to him. "Vegeta, Stop!" it said. He turned to look down and see Rose looking up at him in disappointment. "Get down here. I need to have a word with you," she ordered. The Saiyan obeyed and floated to the ground.

"What do you want?" he grumbled, "Do you have more bad news for me? Did reveal my location to Frieza as well?"

"Vegeta stop it," she said sternly, "I understand you're upset, but you need to control yourself."

"Control myself?" Vegeta repeated, "Maybe you should take your own advice. After all, you didn't show much self control when you decided to kill yourself! You didn't even consult any of us about it!"

"Would you have reacted any differently if I had, Vegeta?" she asked. He didn't respond. "Vegeta, I'm sorry. It was not my intention to hurt any of you with this," she said, "I don't expect you to fully understand, but at least let me try to explain." "I care about you, Goku, and Piccolo very deeply, but you're not going to be around forever," she explained, "You all may live fairly long lives compared to most species but to me, it's a blink of the eye. With Greg it's even worse. This is a way for me to hold onto a piece of him, because while it may seem like I'm dead to you, that isn't how it is for me."

"If you're not dead and you're not alive, then what are you?" Vegeta questioned.

"The closest thing I could compare this to is fusion," she said, "I won't be there anymore, not truly, but I will be a part of Steven." "What he feels, I feel. Although he may not have my memories or all of my powers I still will be with all of you through him," she explained, "And because of that, I have something to ask of you. I need you to protect him Vegeta. He may be a gem, but he's still a human. Will you do that for me?"

Vegeta was quiet for a moment before sighing and turning to her. "Very well Rose...Though I may not enjoy it, I'll do as you say," he relented.

Rose smiled brightly, eyes sparkling. "Thank you, Vegeta," she said, pulling him into a hug, "You don't know how much this means to me." "Now," she said as she let him go, "As your master I have to ask you to have to clean up the mess you made." She gestured to the flaming forest. "We're supposed to be defending the planet, not destroying it, and just because I'm preoccupied doesn't mean I won't get on your case about something like this," she stated.

Vegeta smirked slightly. "Very well, Master Rose," he said with a slight bow before taking off.

…

Vegeta stared out over the water as he sat atop the temple statue. He had returned from his two year long retreat to the Sahara Desert a little over a year ago. Despite taking the time to get over his loss, he could still feel a slight sting when he acknowledged her absence. He had stayed for the day of her death to say goodbye but had left soon after the child was born. Chichi, the girl Goku started bringing around, had scolded him for his departure as he had left Goku and Piccolo alone to look after the boy with Greg. His response had been simple: he was doing as his Master had commanded of him and protecting the boy...from himself. For a long time after her death, he had been less than emotionally stable. Had he stuck around and found himself alone with the reason for his instability, there wouldn't be a child to protect anymore.

Since then, he had calmed himself down. He accepted the boy's presence, although he did not take an active part in his life. Still he did as he was told and watched over the boy. In this case, very literally. The boy was playing hide and seek with his father and Chichi on the beach below. Goku and Piccolo had left on a mission, so he was left alone.

As he watched Chichi count, he saw Greg run to hide behind his van, beckoning his son to do the same. Steven, however, had a different idea. He waddled over to the temple and attempted to climb up the ledge and hide among the rocks. His father called to him and Chichi stopped counting to see what was going on. The boy was now on the slippery rocks and attempting to climb down. The two humans ran towards him, telling him to stop, but before they could do anything, the boy started slipping. "Ahh!" he squeaked as he lost his grip.

With that, Vegeta snapped into action. Before the boy could even scrape his knee, Vegeta had caught him mid air. Little Steven looked up at his savior in wonder, although the man didn't seem to be paying attention to him as he looked to the two humans who were supposed to be looking after the boy. Chichi and Greg breathed a sigh of relief as he slowly floated the two to the ground.

As the touched down on the sand, Vegeta set him down. "You should listen to those two and come when they call," he scolded the almost two year old, "If I hadn't been there to save you, you would have cracked your head open. Now run along."

Steven didn't pay attention to his words, because as soon as Vegeta let go of him, he grabbed on to the Saiyan's leg. Vegeta growled. "Hey!" he hissed, trying to gently shake the boy off, "Let go! I'm not your-" he stopped however, when the little boy looked up to him with a bright smile. His eyes sparkled in a familiar way: the same way his mother's used to. Vegeta's eyes softened slightly.

"What he feels, I feel. Although he may not have my memories or all of my powers I still will be with all of you through him,"

Vegeta stopped trying to shake the boy off as Greg and Chichi ran up to them. "Steven!" Greg cried, "Oh thank goodness you're ok! Don't do that again! You scared us. Are you alright?"

The little boy nodded his head and squeezed Vegeta's leg. Greg flinched slightly at this and Chichi bit her lip. "Ahhh Steven! I think you should let go of Vegeta now," he said nervously, "I don't know if he appreciates it very-"

"The boy is fine," Vegeta stated, surprising both of them.

"Are you sure Vegeta?" Chichi asked. The Saiyan nodded. "Alright then…" she said.

"Still…" Greg stated, "We should probably get him back to the van. It's almost lunch. Thanks for the save, Vegeta." Chichi nodded as well.

Vegeta simply shrugged in response. Then Steven tugged on his pant leg. The Saiyan looked down at the little boy. "Geta?" he asked, "You eat lunch wiff us?"

"I appreciate the offer," he responded, "but I don't think your father has enough food for me."

"Awww…" the little boy said, looking down.

"Maybe some other time, buddy," Greg said taking the boy's hand, "Come on, let's go."

"Say goodbye and thank you Steven!" Chichi said.

"Thank you!" Steven chirped, waving his hand at the Saiyan, "Bye-bye, Geta!"

The Saiyan nodded and watched them walk back to the van.

….

A few weeks later...

Light filled the room as Piccolo touched down on the warp pad in the temple. He placed a gem inside a ring box and started walking towards the door when he heard a couple voices.

"YAH!"

"No, no, no! Keep your body still when you punch. If you throw you whole body into every movement, you'll become tired and unbalanced."

Piccolo raised an eyebrow and stepped outside the temple to see what was going on. His eyes widened as he looked upon a sight he never expected to see: Vegeta was kneeling in front of Steven with his hand outstretched as the boy punched the center of his palm.

"Like this?" the little boy asked, now taking up a firm stance and thrusting his fist at the Saiyan's hand.

Vegeta nodded. "Better," he said, "Now do that again. Repete an action enough and you will be able to perform it without thinking."

The boy thrust his hand out again, a little more forceful. "Ow!" he cried, when his tiny fist made contact, "Your hand hurt me, Geta!"

The Saiyan simply shrugged. "Your hand only hurts because you haven't toughen it up enough yet," he explained, "If you keep working, it will stop hurting one day."

"Will I get ta chop stuff up like Goku and Pickle-o and you?" the boy asked.

Vegeta nodded. "But only if you keep practicing and take your training seriously," he said.

The three year old nodded. "I can be seweous!" he announced, "I'll be da most seweous fighta of dem all!"

"Good," Vegeta said, nodding.

Piccolo smirked slightly as he watched them. After a few moments, he walked back into the temple, leaving them be.


	51. The Renegade Pearl

Pearl had spent many years in the afterlife, centuries actually. During that time she managed to find some peace, although she had kept to herself mostly. She also had heard about a woman named fortuneteller Babba, a woman who could bring someone back to the world of the living for a day. While her time in the afterlife had been comfortable, that didn't stop her from trying to seek out the woman when she was around. She wanted to seen how Rose was doing, to talk with her again. She had obviously survived the Saiyan attack so Pearl was curious to see how the world was doing. After many years, she had finally found her.

She was standing in front of a spirit of an old man, talking with him about something.

"Excuse me!" she called running over to the pair. They turned to look at her, the old woman appearing slightly annoyed. "You're fortune teller Babba, correct?" she asked.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well I was wondering if you would alow me to spend a day in the world of the living again," she said, "There's someone I wish to see."

"Sorry, but you're too late," she said, "I already picked someone to fight in my tournament. Come back next time." The woman turned away from her and started floating away. The old man gave her a sympathetic look.

"Look, all I want is for one day. Is that so much to ask for?" she asked, running up to catch up with them. The old witch ignored her. Pearl frowned at her. "Do you have any idea who I am?" she snapped, "I defended this planet long before you were even conceived! I fought alongside the great Rose Quartz and died for your world! The least you could do is give me five minutes of your team to explain my reasons!"

The woman suddenly stopped and turned around, a look of surprise on her face. "Did you say Rose Quartz?" she asked. Pearl smiled and nodded. "Hmm…." she said, stroking her chin, "Well, if it's for a friend of Rose, I can make an exception...I can give Devil-man the day off he wanted too, I suppose." "Very well. I'll allow it. You'll fight for me for a few hours and then you're free to do as you please for the rest of your day," she said, "Now come with me."

"Oh thank you!" Pearl cheered, following after her with a wide smile.

….

"I still can't believe it! Darn Saiyans...why do they have to be so stubborn and battle crazy…" Yamcha muttered. The group of fighters had journeyed to the home of fortune teller Babba to get help in finding the last dragon ball. Usually the witch had bank-busting rated or offered a near impossible challenge for such a task, but when she found out Goku and Vegeta were wards of one Rose Quartz, she decided she would be willing to give them one free fortune.

...Unfortunately, neither Goku nor Vegeta wanted to take her up on such an offer. They wanted instead to face her near impossible league of fighters. "We should take any chance we can to improve ourselves," Vegeta had said. And so now they all watched from the sidelines as Goku and Vegeta took turns facing off against her monstrous warriors one by one.

"At least we aren't having to fight these guys," Krillin noted, "That invisible man would have been a pain to deal with!" The others nodded.

As Vegeta finished up dealing with the mummy, he wiped his hands and called to the younger Saiyan. "Your turn, Kakarot!" he said, causing the boy to jump from the sidelines.

"Woopie!" he cried.

"We'll move onto my final arena," Babba announced. The others followed her outside.

….

Pearl had been told that her opponent would be strong. She had been told that he had been able to locate the invisible man without any of his traditional senses. What she had not been told, was that he was a Saiyan. Her eyes grew wide and she froze in fear, gaping as the hell spawn hopped up onto the arena with a seemingly innocent smile on his wicked little face.

Her grip tightened on her spear as another voice spoke up. "A pearl? You must be joking!" she heard. She turned to see another one of the wretched beasts standing on the sidelines. He smirked at her with crossed arm. If Pearl had blood, it would be boiling right now. "This ought to go quickly…" he said with a laugh.

Pearl glared at him. Images of the laughing monsters that had originally come to Earth before flashed through her mind and unbridled rage filled her heart. She wanted more than anything to run off the stage and wipe the smile off its face. How dare they return. How dare their kind show their faces on this planet again!

"A pearl? Like the stuff that you string around your neck?" the smaller one said in confusion.

"Don't you even think about it!" Pearl snapped.

"Goku, this is Pearl," Babba explained, "She's a gem."

"Oooooooh! Ok!" he said cheerfully, "I haven't fought a gem that looks like you before. Most of them are big and ugly. I haven't lost to one yet though!"

"We'll see about that…" Pearl muttered getting into her fighting stance and pointing her spear at Goku.

"Hey, is she allowed to have that?" Yamcha questioned.

"It came from her body so it follows tournament regulations," Vegeta pointed out, "Plus Kakarot has his staff, so it is fair." As if to prove his point, Goku pulled out his power pole and took up a fighting stance, a look of determination on his face.

Goku rushed the gem, staff held back for a strike. Pearl blocked it with her spear and pushed him away. She then slashed at him several times. Goku dodged and or blocked each one with his power pole. He then got into a crouch and used his pole to swipe her feet out from under her.

Pearl somersaulted backwards before landing on her feet, glaring at the smiling boy. Gohan frowned as he watched behind his rabbit mask. There was something different in the gem's eyes than before, and he didn't like it.

Pearl went back on the offensive, swiping at Goku with her spear so fast that he could barely keep up with dodging and blocking. "Enough of this!" Pearl finally shouted, knocking the power pole from Goku's hands.

Goku's eyes widened before he ducked under her legs to dodge her next attack. Pearl turned to see him scramble across the arena and get into a fighting stance. "Ka-me…." he started, holding his palms together, "Ha-me...HAAAAAA!"

A blast of blue energy hurdled towards Pearl. She froze as the filing scene flashed before her eyes….

…..

A Saiyan floated above them, a powerful ball of energy forming in his hands. Pearl panted as she looked up at him from her place kneeling on the ground, gem slightly cracked. They had managed to take on his comrades and succeeded in defeating them. He was the last one standing. "We're giving you one last chance!" Rose said, "Leave now or surrender peacefully. Do not make us have to kill you."

"I would never stoop so low as to seek mercy from you!" he huffed, "You haven't beaten me yet...I'm just getting warmed up!" With that he grinned evilly before throwing the ball of ki up in the air. The two gems looked on in confusion….but that quickly turned to horror as the Saiyan began to transform.

His armor stretched as he grew. Hair sprung up all over his body. His nose and mouth collapsed into a snout as his eyes became a pairing red. Soon a mighty Oozaru stood before them, roaring angrily.

It opened its giant, toothy maw and energy began to gather above the beast's tongue. It fired the beam of energy directly at Rose. Pearl gasped, but thankfully, she summoned a giant shield as it was about to make contact. Her relief did not last long, however, as the shield began to creak with strain. A large crack formed across the center as the Oozaru continued its attack. Pearl could see the stress on her dear Rose's face as she resisted the attack.

As more faults formed in the shield's surface, Pearl's gaze steeled as she knew what she had to do. She charged towards her idol and companion and shoved her aside with all her might. Not expecting the sudden assault, Rose's eyes widened as she tumbled out of the way. The shield instantly dissipated and the blast consumed Pearl. She closed her eyes tight as pain tore through every fiber of her being as she was ripped apart, molecule by molecule.

…..

Pearl stood frozen as the Kamehameha wave hit her full force. Although not forceful enough to truly harm her, the blast sent her skidding across the arena and over the side. Goku's friends cheered at the boy's victory and Vegeta smiled. Gohan also smiled from his place in the shadows, both with pride and in relief that the gem did not actually harm the boy.

Pearly slowly crawled back up. "Good," Pearl heard Vegeta said, "Just one more adversary before we can get the last dragon ball." Her eyes widened in fear.

"That was fun! Who's next?" Goku chirped. His demeanor shifted however, when a spear flew passed his head and embedded itself into the ground.

Everyone looked with shock as Pearl stood up on the arena again. "I'm not done yet!" she hissed, "Not until you're gone!" She then summoned another spear and charged at the small boy, slashing at him furiously.

"What the heck?!" Bulma cried, "What's wrong with her?! Goku already won!"

"Obviously, she doesn't care," Roshi muttered.

Pearl knocked Goku across the arena with the blunt end of her spear. The boy rolled across the ground before coming to a stop. "We have to stop her! You summoned her, can't you do something?" Gohan hissed to Babba.

"Pearl, that's enough!" the witch shrieked, "The match is over! If you continue, I'll send you back right now!" But the gem didn't listen.

She leaped at the boy, spear held high above her head. Goku rolled over to see her just about to bring it down upon him. He yelped before catching the weapons blade between his hands. He looked up at her fearfully as she glared down at him. "Hey, what are you trying to do, kill me?!" he questioned.

"If I have to!" she growled. Goku looked shocked and confused. "I'll give you one warning, Saiyan," she said, "Leave this planet or die to me."

"What?! No way!" he snapped.

"Then you leave me no choice," she said slamming a foot down on his tail. His arms suddenly went limp and she raise her spear again. Bulma covered her eyes and the warriors and Gohan were about to jump into action...when a purple beam of energy slammed into Pearl's side. Everyone turned to see Vegeta with his hand raised, smoke coming off of it. He glared at the gem before jumping onto the arena. "As annoying as the kid may be at times, you're going to have to do me in before you get to kill him," he said taking up a stance.

Pearl picked herself up and ran at him, but was stopped by Gohan. He knocked her spear out of her hand and held her arms behind her back. "That's enough!" he snapped, "There will be no killing of anyone today. ESPECIALLY not Goku."

Yamcha, Krillin, and Roshi got up onto the stage as well. "Vegeta and the guy in the mask are right," Yamcha stated, taking up his signature stance, "Not a single one of us here would let you get away with hurting our friend!"

Pearl gave a look of surprise. "Are you all insane?!" she cried, "Why are you defending them? They're Saiyans! They're untrustworthy wild beasts that'll destroy the planet the first chance they get!"

The warriors and others standing at the sidelines looked confused before bursting out laughing. "Are you serious?!" Bulma scoffed, "The day Goku even thinks of being cruel like that will be the day the universe implodes!" Pearl's puzzled expression grew even more so at her statement.

The two Saiyans didn't find this quite as funny. "We'd never cause harm to the Earth!" Goku said, "It's our home and Rose taught us to value all life!"

Pearl looked at him in shock. She couldn't believe what she heard! "...You know Rose?" she asked quietly.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow in surprise as Goku cocked his head to the side. "Yeah…She found us and took us in," he said, "How do you know her?"

She looked at them as if it were obvious. "I was her closest friend. Her sole confidant! She trusted me and cared for me more than anyone and I stood by her for years!" she explained, "If you really know her, then why don't you know about me?"

Goku shrugged. "She doesn't like to talk about other gems much," he said.

Pearl felt a deep hurt at that statement. "How do I know I can believe you?" she she questioned, "because the Rose I know would never trust a Saiyan. Not after everything your kind has done!" To be honest, she didn't know for sure, but she certainly hoped Rose wouldn't trust one, especially after their last encounter with one.

"If you know Rose half as well as you say, then you know we wouldn't be speaking to you if she didn't trust us," Vegeta stated, "You know very well how she has connections with Kami. She knows about us being on Earth, and at the very least she wouldn't have let us out of her sight if she didn't have some faith in us." He had a point, Pearl thought, although she did not admit. It would fit the taller pink gem to give them a second chance, no matter their circumstance.

"If you really want proof, we could just take you to her," Goku pointed out, "She should be at the temple. It's not that far of a flight from here."

Pearl bit her lip. Although seeing Rose was her main reason for wanting to come back to the world of the living, now she had second thoughts. If what these boys were saying was true, and she not only trusted them but also took them in, then she wasn't sure she could face her old companion. She tried to kill one of them for pete's sake! Then again, when would she get another chance to see her?

Pearl nodded and Goku summoned the flying nimbus. Pearl flinched slightly as Vegeta picked her up from under her arms, but said nothing. "We'll be back before the end of the day!" Goku called over his shoulder to his friends, "I'll go ahead with the final match then, ok?" With that, the two Saiyans zoomed off.

…

Rose heard a knock at the door of the temple and opened it to see the younger Saiyan boy standing before her. She smiled and bent down to greet him. "Goku!" she chirped, placing a hand on the back of his head. She planted a kiss on his forehead. Pearl felt guilt seep through her as she watched the interaction from her hiding place. "How is your journey so far?" she asked, "Did you find your four star dragon ball? I see you roped Vegeta into your little escapade."

"Pretty good so far! I found my ball but I went on a search for the rest for a different reason. It got pretty crazy. You should have been there! I fought of this mercenary guy and a whole tower full of these bad guys after the dragon balls too. I even got to meet this really nice android named Eighter and-"

Goku was cut off by Vegeta loudly clearing his throat. Goku turned to see the tall Saiyan glaring at him before he jerked his head to the left a few times. The smaller boy scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Woops…got off topic," he said, "Anyways, we found someone we need to show you!"

Rose gave him a confused look until she saw Pearl step out from her hiding place behind the temple entrance. Her eyes grew wide and distant as she gazed once again upon the visage of her long lost comrade. Pearl looked at the ground guiltily before meeting her eye nervously. "H-hello Rose," she said, raising a hand awkwardly.

Rose just stood there for a moment, mouth agape. She couldn't even begin to process what was going on. She felt like she was in a dream. Infact it had to be one because this was impossible. "P-Pearl?" she whispered, making sure this wasn't some cruel joke. The shorter gem nodded, a smile gracing her face as she took her hand. Tears formed at the edges of the quartz's eyes. her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out. She was utterly dumbstruck. She finally spoke as she slowly turned the boys. "How?" she asked distantly, "Th-the dragon balls...they don't-they don't work on…"

"We didn't use them," Vegeta clarified. Rose's face scrunched in confusion.

Then Pearl pointed to her halo. "I'm still dead, but a human by the name of Babba allowed me to walk among the living for a day," she explained.

Rose's gaping mouth began to turn upwards and tears trickled down her face as she laughed and cried at the same time. "Of course…" she chuckled, "I'll have to give that old witch my entire treasure room for this one!" She then pulled her pearl into a tender embrace as she continued to cry tears of joy. Pearl look over her shoulder, giving the two boys an apologetic look. She felt awful about what she had done. She shouldn't have passed judgement on them like that. They hadn't deserved it.

While Vegeta simply gave her a stoic expression, Goku shrugged with a smile in response. As their mentor began to talk animately to her fallen companion, Vegeta took it as their queue to leave, and grabbed Goku by the arm. "Let's go Kakarot," he said, pulling him out of the temple entrance.

"Huh? Why?" the smaller Saiyan asked.

"Because we have a tournament to finish and a dragon ball to find," he explained, "Now call you pet cloud so we can get back to business."

…

A few days later, the two Saiyans returned again. Rose had been overjoyed to have them back with her permanently until the next tournament. They started their training with her again almost immediately. It was like they had never left in the first place…that is except for one thing: the questions.

"Rose?" Goku asked, approaching her after his morning workout on the beach one morning, "Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" she responded.

"Would you be willing to tell me about the gems?" he asked.

Rose gave him a confused look. "Goku, I've already told you about the war and how the gems came to Earth," she said, "Don't you remember?"

He nodded his head. "Of course. I didn't mean that though," he said, "I want to know about the gems you were friends with. Like Pearl." Rose's eyes widened slightly. Oh. That. She had avoided talking about them. It hurt sometimes to remember them and what happened. The gem wars were easier to talk about, because although they were painful, it was easier to leave them in the past...but it's not like Goku couldn't handle that kind of information, and with him meeting Pearl, it would probably be a good idea if he knew about a few of them. "Alright," she said sitting down on a rock and patting the one next to her, "I'll tell you about a few of them. Let's start with Pearl since you've already met her."


	52. Why Come to Earth?

"So what exactly is this one about?" Parsy asked as she walked down the hall with her partner.

"Heck if I know," He said, shrugging his shoulders, "This things been deferred so many times that I don't think anyone remembers the details." The current mission the two were working on assigning started off as a mission from yellow diamond to Frieza. However, due to its location and the lack of urgency for it, it was handed over so many times in the ranks of his men until it made its way to the pair of Saiyan's division.

Parsy frowned at him before punching the smaller Saiyan in the arm. "Stop joking Bruss!" she said.

"Alright, fine!" he said rolling his eyes, "Apparently the gems want a purge of some little planet called Earth in Sol 752."

Parsy gave a confused look. "Wait...don't the gems own that solar system?" she said, "Their star maps seem to infer that, though I know they don't really use that system."

Bruss shrugged and scratched the side of his shaggy beard. "Yeah, they apparently are trying to make use of it for something but they don't want life interfering or whatever. I dunno, it's not my mission anyways," he said.

The two of them entered a room with a computer and a space pod being prepped. Bruss went up to the computer to plug in the coordinates. "Let's see…Where do we need to send the brat," he said, "There we go!" the information was pulled up, along with statistics of the blue planet.

"Huh that's funny…" Parsy said, squinting her eyes as she looked at the information, "The power level average on that planet is only a six. Why didn't the diamonds just send some gems to do the work?"

Bruss shrugged. "Well to be fair, a Saiyan brat could get it done faster than a gem," he explained.

"Still seems weird to me…" she muttered.

"Oh, stop being so over analytical! This isn't the first purge She's had one of our infants sent on," Bruss argued, "Now let's pick out a kid….hmmm who would be weak enough to get rid of for this." The computer pulled up the image of an infant with palm shaped hair and some information about him.

"We've got this Kakarot kid with a power level of two...I think his dad's Bardock," Bruss stated.

"With a father like that, the kid will probably have no problem with the mission, even with such a puny power level," Parsy noted with a smirk.

"Well that settles it then," Bruss said rubbing his hands together, "Why don't you go get the kid and plug in the mission information to the computer." He handed her a chip containing the mission objectives and instructions. "I'm going to go start prepping the next one," he said.

Parsy nodded and took it, starting to walk down the hall to the nursery. As she did so, she looked down at the chip curiously. What exactly was in these mission details? It still didn't quite make sense why the diamonds would defer this mission. Was there something dangerous on that planet for gems? Or was Yellow Diamond trying to keep something secret? Whatever the case maybe, Parsy couldn't help but feel there was something off about this one. Still she continued on her way to the nurse to pick up the infant Saiyan.

….

Two weeks later, a Saiyan pod was hurling towards the Earth. The hull was engulfed in flames as it entered the atmosphere. The baby inside was jolted awake when the pod embedded itself in the side of a mountain. The baby blinked slowly as the pod door opened with a hiss and the hypnotic voice of the mission instructions began to play on repeat:

"Wake up Kakarot! Kill all organic life!"

"Wake up Kakarot! Kill the rebel gems!"

"Wake up Kakarot! Kill Rose Quartz!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I love irony. I really do. Though the main reason I wrote this was admittedly to cover up a possible plot hole of why Goku would be sent to Earth if the Saiyans worked with the gems and therefore would know it was already part of their empire. Still I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think.


	53. School Drop Off

It was lunch time at South Beach City Prep and Connie smiled as she took another bite of the reheated turkey on the sunny, early September day. Even though she sat alone at her picnic table in the school yard while other students chatted around her, she couldn't help but feel happy as she ate the delicious food she brought. The evening before she had spent a few hours at Gohan's house to help him with his studies and do some homework of her own. Although she had learned the material he was going over a long time ago, she still found herself surprised by how much the kid was learning at his age. At this rate, they might be studying the same books when she gets to high school! His mother had let her stay for dinner and take some food home with her, and Connie had been more than grateful. Although it was disturbing to see how much Goku and Gohan could eat, it was worth it to taste some of Mrs. Son's wonderful cooking.

"Even reheated it's amazing!" she thought. As she took another bite, she couldn't help but wonder if Gohan's mom was secretly a witch and enchanted her food to taste amazing. With how crazy their family was, it was easy to believe. Steven even mentioned that his mother had been friends with a witch!

As she looked up at the clock on the wall of the courtyard, she noticed there was about ten minutes left until the next period. With that, she began cleaning up her things and putting them away. She pulled out her science binder, as chemistry was her next period. She had to turn a lab report in that day and she had worked really hard on it. As she pulled out the binder, she noticed something strange: the word "math" was written on the cover instead of "science." Connie felt her heart sink as she opened up the binder to find not her neat, laminated lab report, but instead Gohan's time tables. Connie felt herself begin to panic. What was she going to do?! She only had ten minutes to redo her project! Connie hid her face in her hands. There was no way this day could get any worse.

"There you are Connie!" a familiar voice called. She and the rest of the children at that lunch looked up to see Goku walk into the courtyard with Gohan on his shoulders. The Saiyan waved at her cheerfully and his son mirrored the movement a little more tentatively under the gaze of all the students. Both of their tails were thankfully wrapped around their waists as to not cause a commotion. After the initial shock of thee strange man and child suddenly appearing, the courtyard was suddenly filled with whispering as he approached her.

"Who is that guy?"

"How does she know him?"

"What's with his hair and clothes? He's practically fluorescent!"

"Why's that kid on his shoulders in a dress?"

Connie sighed and placed her head on the table as he stopped in front of her. "I was picking up Gohan from preschool when I remembered Chichi told me to get you your binder," he explained, pulling it out of a bag and placing it on the table. Connie looked up in surprise before smiling. "You must have left it when you stayed for dinner last light," he continued.

"Thank you! You're a lifesaver!" she cried picking it up and hugging it. She was so relieved. Nothing could ruin this moment.

"Why was she hanging out with some four year old? They don't look related," some kid whispered loud enough for Connie to hear.

"So weird…" another said.

….Except for that…Goku frowned in the direction of the voices as Connie blushed in embarrassment. She didn't know why she was embarrassed. It's not like she really had a reputation to begin with. "Thank you," she said handing Gohan's binder over, "Next time though, would you mind just dropping it off in the office?"

Goku nodded, smiling at her apologetically. "Sorry. No one told me I could do that. Would you like me to drop off this in the office then?" he asked, holding up a sack of clothing, "You also left your training gi at the temple. Don't worry though. Chichi went ahead and washed it for you."

Connie smiled and took it from him. "No, it's ok. You're already here. No point in wasting time dropping it off, right?" she said, chuckling slightly to lighten the mood.

Goku smiled and started to walk away. "See you later! And don't be late for practice tonight! Vegeta's got a new move set for you to start on," he called over his shoulder.

"I won't!" she called back.

"Bye!" Gohan chirped as the pair exited the court yard.

It was then that Connie fully noticed all the eyes staring at her. She turned to see many of her classmates staring at her in shock. Connie felt herself shrink slightly and looked towards the ground. She wished she could have left with the two Saiyans instead of having to face her class after such an encounter.

Finally, one short girl with glasses and blonde hair spoke up. "You know martial arts?" she asked. Connie looked up to her in surprise at genuineness of the question before nodding. The girl broke out into a smile. "That's awesome! Do you think you could show me some time?" she asked. Several other kids nodded enthusiastically.

Connie blinked in surprise. Before she could say anything, however, the bell for class rung. Connie smiled. "Maybe later," she said. She then turned to leave for class. She had been right. Things didn't get worse. They just got better.


	54. How to Train Your Hell Spawn

When Rose took up looking after the son of the self proclaimed Demon King after his demise at her hands, she honestly did not know how she would go about making sure the child did not become like his father. However, with her years of experience in raising Goku and mentoring Vegeta, she put together a simple four step plan to do so entitled: "Rose's Guide to Raising a Demon Child."

Step 1: Discipline

"OUCH!" she heard Vegeta cry. Rose immediately stopped what she was doing and ran around the corner of the temple to see what was going on. There she spotted her Saiyan ward glaring down at a tiny Namekian whose teeth and claws were firmly dug into the prince's leg. "Why you little!..." he said. Vegeta then ripped the child from his leg and held him up by the back of his shirt. The Namekian did not stop his attack as he then tried to claw at him and squid out of his grip. "That's it!" Vegeta growled, a ball of ki energy forming in his free hand, "I'm going to teach you a lesson you're never going to forget!"

"Vegeta, stop!" Rose called. The Saiyan prince and the little Namekian both paused and looked in her direction. She stared at them sternly, arms folded over her chest. "Vegeta, I told you you're not allowed to hurt Piccolo," she said.

"But-" he protested.

"No buts. Now get back to your training and let me deal with him," she said.

Vegeta glared at her before extinguishing the ki energy and dropping the child. He then turned and stalked off, muttering and tail swishing back and forth angrily.

Rose then turned her attention to the little Namekian trying to get up. Once he had succeeded, she spoke to him. "Piccolo, you have to stop attacking Vegeta and Goku like that," she said frowning, "How would you feel if someone did something like that to you?"

The tiny Namekian puffed out his chest and grimaced the best he could at her. "I don't care!" he snapped, "I won't stop until I have avenged father's death and destroyed you all!"

Rose sighed inwardly. Looks like she'd have to bring out the big guns. "While I understand wanting to avenge those that you care for," she said stoically, "I hope you understand that little boys that kill people DON'T get bedtime stories!"

The tiny Namekian's eyes widened in horror as Rose inwardly smirked. She had him now. Although the little boy would never admit it, he absolutely adored bedtime stories, demanding at least three a night. "Not even one?" he whispered. Rose nodded sagely. "Y-you don't really mean that do you?" he asked hopefully.

"Oh, I mean it!" Rose responded with a look that said "Try me."

Piccolo looked down and scrunched his eyebrows together in thought as his little mind tried to calculate a way out of this situation. Finally he sighed and conceded. "Fine," he huffed, "I'll wait to take my vengeance."

Rose smiled at him. "Good," she said, "Now let's find something more productive for you to do instead, shall we?" She extended a hand out to him and he begrudgingly accepted it.

Step 2: Positive Reinforcement

To be honest, this was the hardest step for Rose, mostly because it was different for each person. With Goku, she gave him treats such as candy or particularly expensive snacks when he behaved. For Vegeta, she usually gave him greater freedom or a new martial arts set to work on. With Piccolo, things were different. His kind mostly survived off of water and he was too young to start training. However, she managed to find something that works.

Piccolo and Rose stood before the Mayor Buck Dewey. The little boy shuffled his feet as he clutched the megaphone, not making eye contact with the mayor. Rose nudged him slightly. "Go on," she said.

The little Namekian stepped forward and presented the object to him. "I'm sorry I took your thing," he grumbled, "I really wanted it, but stealing is wrong."

The mayor smiled as he bent down to pick it up. "Why thank you little boy," he said, leaning down to pick it up. "I appreciate your honesty," he said.

Piccolo nodded, still not making eye contact. "Good luck in your election," he grumbled.

Buck chuckled and patted the green child on the head. The boy's face scrunched up as he did so. When he stood back up, Rose spoke to him. "I'm sorry about his behavior earlier," she said, "He's still learning."

"Oh no, it's fine!" Buck said, "I know what it's like raising a little boy. It was difficult with just one, I can only imagine how much you must go through when you have to deal with three!" He chuckled and she smile warmly at him.

"It was good to speak with you Mr. Dewey," she said, "Have a nice day." She then nudged Piccolo again. "Say goodbye Piccolo," she said.

"...Goodbye…" he mumbled. With that, the two turned and began to walk away.

As they did so, Rose turned to look at the little boy. "Well done, Piccolo," she said, "You handled that very politely." The little Namekian huffed slightly. "Did you learn your lesson?" she asked.

"Yes…" he muttered.

"Good," she said, "Then I have a surprise for you!" The little namekian looked up in confusion as she began pulling something from a bag she had been carrying. His eyes lit up and his antennae twitched as he saw what it was: a purple, sugar-free juice pouch. He snatched it from her as soon as she reached down to give it to him, and began to drink it greedily. Rose smiled at him as they continued on their way back to the temple.

Step 3: A Little bit of Magic

The two treked up the hill in the dying evening light. Crickets chirping in the distance as they did so. "How much longer?" tiny Namekian complained.

Rose turned to him, smiling in amusement as she saw only his head sticking out of the tall grass. She hummed before saying, "Not that far now. Are you sure you don't want me to carry you?" Piccolo nodded adamantly, determined to go one without help. "Are you sure? The grass is only going to get taller," she explained. This made the child think for a second before relenting and nodding, raising his hands up to be lifted into the air. Rose picked him up and began carrying him to the river bank.

She sat them down among the reeds as they gazed out over the water. A few minutes passed in silence as the light faded. Piccolo began to squirm as he sat on her lap. "I'm bored!" he said, "I want to go home."

Rose smiled and held a finger to her lips. "Just wait," she said, "You're going to see something amazing." Piccolo huffed and puffed out his cheeks as he gave up his squirming. He gazed lazily over the water. Then something caught his eye. He turned and saw a little flash of yellow light dance over the water. His eyes grew wide as he saw another and another and another!

He grabbed her arm to get her attention. "Look!" he said, pointing to the strange lights. There were hundreds now around them. "What are they?" he demanded.

"They're called fireflies," she explained with a smile. She stretched her hands up and gently caught one, bringing it down to show the child. She opened her hands up and let it crawl into Piccolo's. It flashed a few times in his hands. His eyes were filled with wonder as he observed it. "Aren't they beautiful?" she asked.

The little boy said nothing but nodded. Then, the bug opened it's wing case and flew away. "No!" he cried, "Make it come back! I want it!" He tried to reach up and grab for it.

"I think you should let it be," she said, "It wants to be with its friends."

"But I WANT it!" Piccolo insisted. He then saw another one floating in front of his face. A look of determination crossed his face as he reached his tiny hands out and clapped them together around it. He smiled as he brought his hands to his face to see prize, but frowned when he opened his hands. His antenna wilted in confusion as he was met with the sight of a squished bug and a horrible odor. "What happened?" he said, "Why won't it glow?"

"Because you squished it," Rose explained sadly, "When you try to control or conceal beauty and keep it for yourself, you smother it out and it becomes ruined and ugly."

"...Oh…" he said quietly, still looking at the crushed insect in his hands, "How do I fix it?"

Rose bit her lip. "I'm afraid you can't," she said, "Once something is gone, it's gone. You can't get it back. That's why we appreciate beauty while we can, because we may never get another chance to."

Piccolo nodded sadly as he look up at the sky full of fireflies. "I think I get it," he said.

Step 4: Lots of Affection (the most important of all)

The tumble of rocks could be heard in the background.

THUMP!

"OOF!"

Rose sat up straight at the noise. She turned from seat on the beach to see Piccolo at the base of the rock ledge gripping his leg. "Piccolo!" she cried, running up to him, her eyes wide with worry. As she approached she could see him scrunching his face in pain, holding back tears. "Are you alright?" she said kneeling down infront of him, "let me see."

the little boy hesitated before lifting up his robe to show her a badly skinned shin. He sniffled slightly, trying to hide his face. "Oh dear," she sighed, getting a closer look at it. She bit her lip as she noticed there was some sand in the wound mixed with the purple blood. She heard him sniffle and whine as she tried to brush a little away. "Oh there, there," she cooed, sooping him up, "It's ok. It's ok. No need to cry. I'm here." She kissed the top of his forehead as she lifted him from the ground.

Piccolo rubbed his eyes before frowning again. "I wasn't crying," he mumbled.

Rose smiled at him and adjusted him in her arms. "Of course," she said, "Now let's go get you cleaned up." The little Namekian nestled himself against her shoulder and wrapped his arm around her own. Rose felt a wet spot form on said shoulder. She reached up with her free hand and stroked his back gently as she carried him back to the temple, humming quietly and rocking him as she did so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was inspired by the fic "The Son of Hell" here on archive of our own. It's very cute and if you haven't seen it, look it up.


	55. Gohan's Dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place before Connie's parents meet the Z fighters. Also, there's a hidden easter egg in here. Let me know if you find it!

Connie walked down the boardwalk, excited to spend the afternoon with her friends. It was so nice to see Steven and Gohan, as well as their guardians. She was excited to show them a new Manga series she had found called Dragon Boy. It was really funny and action packed, so she was sure they would enjoy it, even if it was discontinued. She spied her friends walking away from the docks carrying a large bucket. "Steven! Gohan!"she called, waving at them. The two turned to her and waved back, still trying to balance the bucket.

"Connie!" Steven cheered. Gohan smiled at her as she approached them. "What's up?" Steven asked.

"I just got a new manga and I wanted to-" she started, running up to them, but she stopped when a pungent odor filled her nostrils. "Uh guys?" she asked holding her nose, "Why do you smell like fish? Did one of your guardians come up with some weird new training routine for you?"

Steven and Gohan blinked in confusion before smiling. "Oh no! It's not us," Steven explained, "It's the bucket. We just finished picking up a bunch from Yellowtail."

"Why do you have so much?" she questioned as she eyed the giant bucket.

"We're taking them to my friend Icarus!" Gohan explained.

Connie cocked an eyebrow. "Who's Icarus?" she questioned.

"He's Gohan's pet...sorta," Steven explained, "He's technically a wild animal, but Gohan visits him a lot."

"Oh...Ok," she said.

"Would you like to come with us?" Gohan asked, "He's really nice."

Connie frowned. She planned on spending the afternoon with them and she was curious as to what kind of animal Icarus was, but the sheer size of the food made her nervous. Steven had said he was a wild animal, after all. Still, she was very curious and it sounded interesting. "Sure!" she said.

"Awesome!" Steven said, "Come on let's go get the flying nimbus and head out!" The trio then headed up the hill towards the beach.

"Flying Nimbus!" Gohan called once they reached the rusted remains of the fence. Connie looked confused for a moment as nothing happened, but then she saw something yellow shooting across the sky. It swung around and started heading straight for them. Connie's eyes widened as she realised it was a yellow cloud. As it skidded to a halt in front of them, Connie jumped back slightly.

The two boys then climbed on with their bucket of fish. Steven turned to her and offered her a hand. "Come on!" he said.

Connie hesitated. "Is it safe?" she questioned.

"Pretty much," Steven said, "The nimbus is a little picky about who it lets ride it, but aside from that, it's fine."

"Ok…" she said taking his hand. He hauled her on board and she stood up on the cloud.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Where are the safety belts?" she questioned.

"There aren't any," Gohan stated bluntly.

"What?!" she exclaimed, before she could say anything more, they zoomed off. Connie held onto Steven for dear life as they flew through the air. She screamed, eyes squeezed tight as the wind rushed past her.

As they continued, she eventually calmed down and opened her eyes...and she smiled at what she saw. As they zoomed over the land and sea, she stared in awe at what she saw. All the people, trees, and buildings...the islands, waves, and boats. She couldn't help but start laughing. She felt so alive, so free! "Woooohoooo!" she cried, "This is amazing!"

"I know, right?" Steve responded, looking over his shoulder.

…

When they got to Mount Paozu, they landed half way up the mountain. "Icarus lives a little ways up," Gohan explained, "Usually we land right at his home, but I thought you might like to see the place where my dad lived when he was little."

"You're dad used to live here?" she asked.

"Yeah. He lived in a little cottage with his Grandpa Gohan," the little half Saiyan explained.

"Ohhh, So that's where you get your name!" she said, and the little boy nodded. Then her eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "Why did he stop living here?" she asked.

"'Cause Rose found him after his grandpa died and took him in," the little boy said nonchalantly.

Connie's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? How did he die?...If you don't mind me asking," she asked.

"My dad said he got crushed by a monster that used to live here," he responded. Connie stopped in shock and stared at him in disbelief. The two boys noticed her stop and turned towards her. "Don't worry though!" Gohan assured, "The monster doesn't live here anymore, and it only came out at night anyways!"

"Alright then…" Connie said following after them.

…

As they made their way up the mountain, Connie was left gazing in wonder at everything that surrounded her. The wildlife was gorgeous, from the plant life to the animals. She spotted so many different kinds of creatures she thought she would never get the chance to see in real life.

The sounds of the forest were like music and the scenery was breathtaking. It made her a little jealous that her two friends could visit this place whenever they wanted. Then again, there was nothing stopping her from tagging along for the ride the next time.

As they walked along the side of a cliff, she noticed something in the ravine below. She looked at it curiously. It looked like the remnants of a metal egg. the curved, white metal had been ripped into pieces and looked almost singed. Vines twisted over it, showing the many years it had been left there to be claimed by nature. Connie stared at it. What was that thing? What was it doing in the middle of the forest?

"Connie?" she heard Steven call.

She snapped out of her train of thought. And looked up in his direction to see them standing several yards away. "Coming!" she said running up to them.

"We're almost there," Gohan said as she caught up. He pointed to a cave a little ways away. The trio approached the cave, but hesitated before they entered.

"Uh, Connie?" Steven said. The tween turned to him, blinking curiously. "I just want to let you know you can't freak out around Icarus," he said, "He's not dangerous, but you might spook him if you do."

Connie nodded, though gave a look of confusion. What was Steven so worried about? She was about to find out as Gohan suddenly called into the cave. "Icarus! Come out!" he said, "We've got some tasty treats for you!"

At first nothing happened. Then Connie heard a rush of wind and before she knew it, a large purple reptile had tackled the tiny Saiyan. "Gohan!" she cried. "Get off him!" she cried at the beast, "Don't you da-"

She stopped however when she heard laughter coming from the boy underneath the monster. "Quit it Icarus!" he giggled as the big scaly beast licked his face, "I mean it! Stop, it tickles!" the purple monster sat up on its haunches and Gohan got up, rubbing his face and smiling.

"That's Icarus?" she questioned.

"Yup!" Gohan said, "He's the best dragon around."

"D-Dragon?!" she questioned. It was then that she noticed the two wings sticking out of the reptile's back. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she stared at the creature as Gohan gave it a fish and petted its snout.

"Connie? Are you alright?" Steven asked.

"Th-that's impossible…" she breathed, "I can't believe it." She then broke out in a huge grin as her eyes practically sparkled. "I can't believe it!" she squeal, "I have to be dreaming! There's a real live dragon right in front of me!" She practically danced with giddiness as she bit her lip to contain her joy.

"Uh, Connie?" Steven said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"How old is it? Are there anymore?" she asked loudly and in rapid succession, turning to him, "Where did it come from? Can it breath fire? Is it more amphibious, reptilian, or avian in nature? Can I touch it?"

"Connie, you need to calm down," Steven said, "I think you're scaring Icarus…"

Connie turned to see the giant reptile trying to hide behind Gohan, eyeing her warily. She blushed and looked down apologetically. "Sorry…" she said.

"It's ok. You didn't mean to scare him after all," Gohan said, rubbing the dragon's snout to comfort it, "Would you like to feed him?"

Connie smiled excitedly again. "YES! I mean...sure!" she said. Gohan gave her a fish and showed her how to approach the winged reptile. She was nervous as she stretched out her hand, the fish resting in the center. She had never fed a large animal before. Would her bite her? Icarus sniffed the hand skeptically before suddenly snatching the fish from it and swallowing it whole. The dragon licked its chops afterwards and the two boys cheered. Then Icarus started licking her face and she chuckled slightly. "Aw, sick!" she said.

"He likes you!" Steven announced.

"I guess so!" she said laughing.

"You want to see him perform some cool tricks?" Gohan asked. Connie nodded enthusiastically and Gohan pulled out a few more fish to help him demonstrate.

….

After a long day of playing with Icarus, the three kids headed back to the beach. "Thanks for showing me that guys," Connie said as she got off the nimbus.

"Aw, no problem, Connie!" Steven said, rubbing the back off his head.

"Hey, didn't you have something you wanted to show us earlier today?" Gohan remembered.

"Oh yeah! You were super excited about it! What was that?" Steven asked.

Connied frowned as she remembered the manga sitting in the bottom of her backpack. She felt awkward about showing it to them now. After all, they had just spent the day playing with a dragon! How could this rinky dink little book that wasn't popular enough to be continued even compare? "Um…" she started, "Maybe later. It's not that great. Besides, I should probably start heading home."

The two boys gave her confused looks. "Oh...ok," Steven said, "Do you need a ride home?"

"No thanks," she said, "My dad will be here soon to pick me up."

"Alright…" Gohan said still looking confused, "See ya then."

"Bye!" she called as she headed back down the docks. The two waved at her as she left. As she turned away from them, her smile fell and her pace slowed. She clutched her backpack straps as she looked to the ground, feeling small. She loved hanging out with those two. They were amazing. Almost too amazing, if she were to be honest.


	56. Poofed

Rose had told him not to interfere with her battles with monsters. It was one of her most important rules, and one of the rules Goku protested the most. The seven year old wanted more than anything to fight alongside her, but she had adamantly told him to stay away. He didn't get it. Why couldn't he help? He had been learning from her for years, and his power had increase ten fold. Surely he was strong enough to help, right? He thought so anyways…that is until one particular day.

It had started like any other. Rose had gotten him dressed and ready for breakfast before they began his morning training session. They were half way through it when a rumble came up from the ocean. They watched as a giant orange lobster-spider hybrid rose up from the ocean. As they watched it crawl onto the beach, Goku smiled in excitement. This was his chance to prove himself! Rose, however, was less than excited. Her visage became very serious and her brow knit together in determination. "Goku, get back to the temple," she said stoically.

Goku's shoulders fell in disappointment. "Aw, come on!" he cried, "It's right there! I can help!"

"Goku, I said, no!" she stated firmly, turning to him. Her stern expression surprised him. He nodded and then began to jog back to the giant statue. Rose turned and summoned her shield before charging at the beast.

…

Goku huffed as he watched the fight from the top of the temple statue. His tail swept back and forth in annoyance, resting his chin on his grandfather's magic bo staff as he looked bellow. Why couldn't he help her. He was strong. Much stronger than the average kid his age! He could probably knock that beast on its back! So why was she treating him like this?

He continue to watch as Rose and the Gem monster exchanged blows. At least the fight was interesting. Rose dodged the massive claws and used the beast's weight to her advantage. Goku cheered as the pink gem used her shield like a boomerang and cut off one of the monster's spiny legs. The monster roared in pain, stumbling slightly. The roar of pain quickly turned to rage as the beast tried to swing at her with its massive claws. Goku gasped as one of them snagged her dress. The monster swung her back and forth like a rag doll, slamming her against the ground before flinging her across the sand. Goku stood up in panic as the lobster creature crawling towards her. He was angry. How dare that creature hurt her! He had to protect her. As the monster was almost upon her, he jumped down from the statue, bow staff in hand.

"Power pole extend!" he cried as he fell. The staff grew in length until it was closer to the size of a lance. He slammed it onto the monster's head as he came down upon it. The beast stumbled. Its largest claw flew into the air and knocked Goke to the side. Once it regained its balance, it turned to Goku, hissing in anger.

As Rose got up, she watched in horror as the creature charged towards the young Saiyan. Her eyes flooded with anger as she lunged at the beast. It loomed over the boy as he got up, claw raise to bring down directly on him. He looked up at it, eyes wide. "Stay away from him!" Rose shouted, slamming into the side of the beast as hard as she could. The force caused both gems to fly into the side of the cliff with a large cracking sound as a schism formed up the side of the cliff.

Goku looked on in awe for a moment, grinning from ear to ear. His grin faded, however, when the schism got larger and reached to the top of the cliff. It turned into a look of horror as part of the cliff broke off from the top and fell on top of the gems, crushing them with a loud POOF!

"ROSE!" Goku cried running over to the pile of rubble. "Rose? Rose! Are you ok?" he called as he began to dig through the rock dirt, "Please be ok! I'm sorry! I'll never interfere agai-" He froze and his eyes grew even wider as he saw among the rubble a pink gem exactly like the one on Rose's stomach. His heart dropped as he stared pink stone. "R-rose?" he whispered as he reached out with a shaky hand to pick it up. It felt cold as he touched it, and suddenly his whole body felt cold. This was a dream. It had to be. Why else would there be no body? Yes. This was all just a horrible dream, and soon he would wake up and could run to her for comfort. He waited. One minute. Three minutes. Five minutes. Nothing happened. "Maybe if I pinch myself…" he thought, still in denial. He reached to his arm and did so...but still he did not wake up. But he was determined wake himself up. He had one last option. He grabbed his own tail…and bit it. Hard. Although pain skyrocketed up his spine and he fell face first into the dirt, he did not wake up. He couldn't. He looked at his own pained expression in the stone. This was real.

As that realization sunk in, that's when the tears came. First one. Then two. Then the floodgates opened and he broke down, curling up into a ball and hugging the gem to his chest. His tail curled around himself as he sobbed. His beloved mentor and caretaker was dead...and it was all his fault. If he had just listened to her, maybe things would be ok.

"I'm sorry…" he whimpered to the gem in his hands, "I'm so sorry!" Silence fell over the area. All that could hear was the soft sound of the child sobbing and the ocean waves. Then, he heard a siren. He looked up to see an ambulance driving down the street. As Goku watched it, an idea came to mind. Hospitals were where people went to be healed. Maybe if he took her there, they could fix her up! Her gem was still in one piece after all. Goku got a hopeful smile as he chased after the vehicle.

…

Goku glared at the building. He didn't like hospitals. Not one bit. All those doctors and their needles made him shudder. But he just had to go in there. If there was any chance of saving her, he had to do this. He stucked in a deep breath and marched into the building.

As he pushed through the doors, he quickly noticed a desk with a lady sitting at it, filing her nails. Goku ran up to the desk and lept up onto it, startling the woman. "M-may I help you?" she asked, eyes still wide in surprise.

"I need to see a doctor immediately," he stated, "It's an emergency!"

The woman gave him a concerned look. "What's wrong?" she asked.

The little boy held up the gemstone. "My mentor got crushed by a rock, and now she's stuck like this!" he cried, "You have to do something! Please!"

The woman blinked at him slowly. "Sweetheart," she said just as slowly, "That's just a rock. A very beautiful rock, but still just a rock. I don't know what kind of trick someone's pulling on you but-"

"She's not just a rock!" he snapped, "She's Rose Quartz and she's the best fighter to have ever lived! You've gotta help her! You just gotta!"

The woman stared at the boy in front of her. He was obviously nuts. There was no way she could help him with his problem. At the same time there was no way she could just let that boy back onto the streets he could hurt himself or others! There was only one thing to do. "Sure!" she chirped, faking a smile, "I'll get someone to help you! You just sit down in one of those chairs and someone will be right out! Everything is going to be fine."

Goku's eyes lit up and he hugged the woman before hopping down and sitting in one of the waiting room chairs. He smiled down at the gem in his hands. Rose would be back before he knew it!

The woman at the counter pressed a button on her radio and spoke into it quietly. "Yes, I need someone down here from the psychiatric ward. I think they have a new patient," she whispered.

Despite her whispering, Goku, with his powerful Saiyan hearing, heard every word. "What's a psychiatric ward?" he thought, brows scrunching together.

After a few minutes a couple men in labcoats exited an elevator and began walking towards Goku. One of them knelt down infront of him, smiling. "Hello, young man," he greeted gently, "how are you doing?"

Goku didn't answer, but simply shoved the gem in his face. "My friend got hurt and ended up like this. Can you help her?" he asked.

The two men exchanged looks before the doctor in front of him nodded and stood up, taking the boy's hand. "Sure, now you just need to come with us," he said, "We have to run a few tests on you before we can-"

"Tests?!" Goku questioned, pulling his hand away. His tail tensed from where it was still wrapped around his waist. "But I'm not sick!" he protested, "My friend is the one who needs help! Are you going to help her or not?"

"Little boy, we just need you to come with us," the other said, placing his hand on his shoulder, "We're not going to hurt you, we just want to-"

"Get off of me! Let go!" the tiny Saiyan yelled, grabbing the man's hand and throwing him across the room. Everyone in the waiting room stared in shock at the seven year old, jaws almost touching the floor. "If you're not going to help me, then I'm leaving!" he announced before running out of the building.

Goku felt his heart sink again as he thought frantically of what to do next. Where else could he take rose to get her fixed? What did Rose do when he was injured? A lightbulb light up in his mind as he knew what he had to do. "The healing fountain!" he thought, "Rose's fountain can fix almost any injury! Maybe it can fix her too!" With that, he raced off back to the temple.

….

Rose's fountain garden was one of the most beautiful places Goku had ever seen. It was so peaceful and serene, and just standing in it usually made him feel warm inside. Now it just made him feel guilty. It felt so empty without her with him. As he stepped up to the edge of the fountain, he couldn't help but feel nervous. What if it didn't work? It had to work. Any time he was sick or injured, one little dip was more than enough to fix him up! It should be able to fix her too, right?

He dropped the gem into the water crossing his fingers as he watched it sink to the bottom. A minute passed. Then another. But nothing happened. The boy sat at the edge of the fountain staring at it, still clinging to hope. Maybe it just took longer for worse injuries? He hoped that was the case. So he continued to sit and wait. And wait. And wait. Almost two hours later, he realised he had no choice but to accept the reality of the situation: Rose was gone.

He reached into the cool water and pulled the gem out. He slide down the side of the fountain wall before collapsing to his side, clutching the gem. He stared into nothing for a few moments. Then he began to sniffle. Then he began to whine. Soon enough tears began streaming down his face again as he broke out into a Saiyan sized fit. Birds scattered at the sound of his cries. He pounded the ground with his free hand, causing huge cracks to form in the tile and the fountain to spring a leak. He began shouting. He shouted at himself for causing this. He shouted at the corrupt gem for showing up that morning despite it not being present. soon he began shouting at nobody. He screamed how it wasn't fair. He begged and bartered about how he'd be a good boy and would follow her rules in the future. Most of all he kept repeating one word between his sobs "Why?"

…

The tiny Saiyan lay curled up against the fountain, having worn himself out from crying and had fallen asleep. Rose's gem lay beside him, gently illuminated by the evening light. All of a sudden it began to glow. Goku stirred in his sleep and awoke to see the gem levitating. He stared in wonder and confusion as it continued to rise. "Huh? Where are you going? Get back here!" he cried as he frantically tried to jump up and grab the gem. He stopped and his eyes widened as glowing figure formed around the gem. A very familiar figure. It flickered and changed shape for a few moments until it solidified and the light faded, revealing Rose Quartz.

Pure joy filled Goku's heart as she slowly floated back down to the ground. "ROSE!" he cried, hopping up. No sooner had she set foot on the stone tile than did Goku suddenly tackle her, wrapping his arms around her neck and snuggling his head under her chin. His legs clung to her just as much and his tail wrapped around her arm as she instinctively brought it up to catch him.

The tall gem stumbled back, nearly falling into the fountain from the force of the child's hug. "What the…" the tall gem sputtered in surprise, "Goku? What's going on? Why are we in my fountain garden?" The last thing she had remembered was being on the beach and having the rocks fall on her and the corrupt gem. She hoped it wasn't still on the loose. Suddenly, she noticed the wet spot forming on her neck and heard sniffling. She pulled him away from her with much difficulty to look at him and make sure he was ok. The boy's eyes were red and puffy, as he tried to reach for her again. "Goku?" she asked, "What's wrong? Are you alright?"

He leaned forward and pulled himself back towards her. "Y-you're ok!" he blubbered as he once again began gripping her neck tightly.

Rose just gave him a confused look. "Of course I am!" she said, "My gem wasn't cracked, after all."

"B-but I," he sniffled, calming down a little, "I-I thought you were dead!"

Rose squinted at him in confusion before her eyes widened in horror and guilt flooded through her. She had forgotten to tell him. Oh dear Kami, what torture had that boy put himself through when she wasn't here? "Oh Goku, I'm so sorry!" she cried squeezing him tightly, "This is my fault! I should have told you sooner!" "A gem's body is made of hard light," she explained, "When we get seriously injured, we release that light to reform inside our gems. I should have explained it to you sooner. Oh Goku…"

"I was worried you were never gonna come back," he mumbled, relaxing against her as she stroked his back gently, "I'm sorry for breaking your rule…"

"Don't be sorry," she said, "I'm the one that should be sorry. You've put yourself through enough punishment today."

Goku hummed tiredly as he nuzzled her. "Hey Rose?" he asked, "Does this mean you're gonna be around forever?"

"As far as I know, yes," she responded. It was true. A gem could live for an eternity if they took care of themselves and avoided corruption.

"Good," he said with a yawn, "Cause then we can spend it together!"

She gave him a bittersweet smile. A gem could live for an eternity...but a Saiyan couldn't. "I hope so," she agreed, "Now let's head home and get you to a real bed, huh?" Goku nodded against her before closing his eyes and drifting off as she carried him back to the temple in her arms.


	57. Living With a Saiyan

When she had brought him home she honestly had no idea what she was doing. She had a general idea of how to look after living things, but not necessarily a Saiyan. For instance, she knew they were big eaters, but she hadn’t expected the boy to eat almost half his weight in food per meal.  
And although he was a sweet child the fact still remained that he was indeed a Saiyan. And as much as she tried, it was hard to shake her mistrust of the species. Especially when things like this would happen….  
….  
The warp pad lit up as the gem returned to her home. She had just finished vanquishing another corrupted gem. Its stone sat securely in a pink bubble in her right hand to make sure it wouldn’t reform. As she tapped the top of it, it was sent away to the containment room. As she stepped off the warp pad, she swore she could hear a noise come from behind her. It sounded like...snickering…  
She turned to look around her, but no one was there. When she turned back she nearly jumped as she saw the tiny Saiyan standing in front of her with a big smile on his face. His hands were hidden behind his back.“Hi Rose!” he chirped.  
She smiled and bent down to eye level for him. “Hello Goku,” she said, “How have been while I was gone?”  
“Good!” he responded, “I played in the ocean for a little while. It was really nice. The water was really warm today.”  
Rose frowned. “Goku,” she said, “I thought I told you I wanted you to stay in your room when I’m not there to look after you.” She had worked hard on making a room for the five year old in temple. She had thought it would have been enough for him. She had pretty much made him an indoor jungle gym after all. Emphasis on the jungle aspect. She had added in vines and plant life to make him feel more at home.  
The boy pouted and looked at the ground. “I know….” he said, “But it's really lonely in there all by myself sometimes. And it's so nice outside.” He then smiled proudly. “Plus, if I hadn’t gone outside, I wouldn’t have caught these!” he said revealing what he had hidden behind his back. Rose’s eyes grew wide in fear as she saw that in each hand he had a dead seagull.   
Rose reflexively moved away from the dead seabirds. “Goku…” she said carefully, her voice tense, “Where did you find those?!”  
“I didn’t find them. I caught them!” he said proudly, “There were a lot of them on the beach, but there’s nowhere to hide and they’re really fast so they’re hard to catch.”  
“Goku,” Rose cried, upset that she’d even have to explain this, “You can’t just go around killing animals for your own amusement! That's wrong!”  
The little boy looked confused. “But I wasn’t killing for fun,” he said, “I was hunting for food! See, there’s two of them. One for me, and one for you!” he held one out to her. “We can cook them up and eat them together!” he announced, “Isn’t that great?”  
Rose’s mouth became a thin line as she looked from the dead bird to the boy’s sparkling eyes. She still had no idea how they could still seem so innocent while he offered her a dead body. She sighed and smiled a strained smile at him. “While I appreciate the thought, Goku,” she said, “I’m afraid that I’m going to have to turn you down. As a gem, I don’t eat much.”  
“Oh…” he said, “Ok. Will you still help me cook them?”   
“Alright,” she responded, “But you have to promise me you won’t go around killing things on the beach. You can go fishing if you like, but that's it. We have plenty of food here. You don’t need to hunt for your meals.”  
“Ok!” the little boy chirped, “Let's go start a fire for these! I’m starving!”  
Rose gave a hum of amusement. “I’m sure you are,” she mumbled.  
….  
There were other smaller reminders that set her on edge. Like when he smiled from ear to ear she would occasionally notice his unusually large canines, how he loved to chase after and try to catch (though thankfully not try to harm) almost anything that moved, or when he got upset, one mis-timed flail of the hand would result in him accidentally breaking something. Thankfully, that didn't happen often as the boy was mostly mild mannered and well behaved...except when he needed a bath. Getting him to bed was almost as much of a hassle, especially if he decided not to stay in bed.  
….  
It was night time as Rose walked down the hallway of the temple to her room. It was quiet, for she had sent her Saiyan ward to bed a few hours ago. It had been a long day with several tiering missions. She had to stop two creatures from terrorizing the city and one gem beast that had taken up residence in the temple that Goku had dubbed “the slinker.”  
As she walked down the hall, more and more she felt like she was being watched. She turned to see a small shadow next to the wall. Rose instinctively summoned her shield as suddenly the shadow jumped out at her. It tackled her by the waist and she stumbled back slightly. She looked down at the creature gripping her stomach with slight fear, it’s large eyes staring up at her and it’s toothy grin reflecting in the dim light of the hallway. For a moment she swore she saw a menacing glint in its eyes...Until she heard it speak.   
“Haha! Gotcha!” it chirped. She squirted in the dim light and saw instead of some evil creature glaring up at her, it was a tiny, mischievous Saiyan child smiling playfully.   
“Goku, what are you doing up?” she asked.  
“I couldn’t fall asleep,” he said simply with a shrug before climbing up her dress to be eye level with her, “Can I stay up with you instead? Please?”  
She smiled at him. “No Goku, you have to go back to bed,” she said, “you need your sleep.”  
“Aw...come on!” he pouted, “Not even for ten minutes? please?”  
“No, Goku,” she said, carrying him back to his room.  
“What about a game of hide and seek or tag?” he asked, “If you chase me I’ll get tired.”  
“No, you’ll just get more excited,” she said, “We both know that.”  
“Can I have another bedtime story?” he asked, “Maybe two?”  
Rose considered this. “Maybe one if you promise to go to sleep right away,” she said.  
“Ok!” he said, nodding his head ecstatically. Three stories, two glasses of water, and a trip to the bathroom later, Goku still hadn't fallen asleep.  
….  
Then there were the times that he was purposefully destructive and played roughly, though she knew that those were very much human traits as well. And he wasn't trying to cause harm to others and never tried to take any of his mischief too far. But with his Saiyan super strength that sometimes caused problems, even when he wasn’t trying to cause a bit of trouble. These moments seemed to happen the most when they went into town.  
….  
Goku sat in the inside window sill of the clothing store, swinging his feet back and forth. Although the people of the village that lived on the other side of the mountain he used to call home had generously donated a few outfits for him, Rose decided he would need a few more. They had been in the store for over thirty minutes, and the boy was starting to get restless. Rose had told him to sit and wait though. He looked out the window for some kind of entertainment, when he noticed a man crouching next to his car. He looked at the man curiously before looking back to Rose, who was still busy. Surely she wouldn’t miss him for a few moments to figure out what was going on.  
The man huffed as he tried to reach underneath his beatle car to get his keys that had fallen underneath. When he couldn’t reach them, he sighed and sat up. Then he heard a voice say, “Whacha’ doin’?” The man nearly jumped as he saw a little boy with messy hair standing next to him.   
“Oh, um,” he said, “I lost my keys. They fell under my car and I couldn’t reach them,” he explained.  
“Want me to help?” the little boy asked.  
The man looked at the boy and thought for a second. He was probably small enough to fit under the vehicle. “Alright,” he said moving aside, “Go ahead.” Goku then walked up to the back bumper of the car and gripped it. The man looked at him in confusion as the boy began to try and lift the car. “Kid that’s not what I-” he began but immediately stopped and gaped in shock as the boy lifted the car into the air.  
“There you go!” Goku said, “Go ahead and grab them.”  
“T-thanks…” the man said as he slowly reached down and grabbed his keys.  
“No problem!” the little Saiyan chirped.  
“GOKU?!” someone suddenly cried. Goku turned to see Rose starring at him in shock. She couldn’t believe it. She had turned her back from him for five minutes, and when she looked back she found him lifting a car over his head right in front of a very terrified man. What had gotten into that boy? Was he trying to hurt the man? “Goku, what do you think you are doing?!” she demanded.  
“I was helping this guy get his keys,” Goku said simply.  
Rose sighed, calming herself down slightly. “Goku, While I’m glad you helped that man, you can’t just go around picking up vehicles,” she explained, “You’re scaring him.”  
Goku turned to see the practically petrified man. “Oh sorry,” he said, putting the car down. However, he wasn’t very gentle about it, and the car crashed to the ground causing the car alarm to go off and one of the front tires to pop. Rose facepalmed. “Oops!” Goku squeaked.  
“MY CAR!” the man cried.  
Rose sighed and removed her palm from her face. There went the money she brought for clothing.  
….  
Goku’s lack of control of his own strength was becoming an issue. She could barely take him off the beach anymore. Whether by his own curiosity or simply a bit of clumsiness, whenever they went out on the town something always seemed to go wrong. Once he unscrewed the cap on a fire hydrant because he was curious as to what it was. Another time he broke the glass on a vending machine because he slammed his hand on it trying to get a candy bar to fall. Rose couldn't even count anymore all the times he accidentally tripped on the sidewalk while running and dented someone’s car by trying to use it to break his fall.  
It became apparent she’d have to find a way to help him control his strength and soon. She had considered teaching him martial arts to learn restraint, but still she was hesitant to do so. A small part of her worried that if she taught him how to use his strength as a defensive weapon, he might use it to one day embrace the violent nature of his Saiyan heritage. It didn’t help that he was so enthusiastic about the idea because he wanted to get even stronger.  
One day though, she decided she had no other choice. It had been a bright, sunny morning. She and Goku had been out on the beach enjoying the good weather. Then, a group of older children came along, playing catch. Goku had been really curious about them. He hadn’t seen many other children before. Rose decided it would be good for him to spend time with others closer to his age, and so she encouraged him to go over to them and play with them…a decision she immediately regretted.   
Everything was fine for a little while. The kids accepted him into their group easily enough. They tossed it back and forth for a little while. Then it was Goku’s turn to throw the ball. One kid backed up and told him to throw it as far as he could, and so he did. He wound up and threw the ball...right at the other boy’s head. It had been an accident of course, but that didn’t change what happened next. With a loud thump, the kid fell back into the sand, unconscious. Goku’s eyes widened at his own mistake as the other children began to gather around the unconscious child. When she had seen what had happened, she had also run over to the boy as fast as possible. She examined him, a large bruise already started forming on a fifth of the child’s head and there was a centimeter sized cut. She glanced back over to Goku whose hands were clasped together guiltily and was avoiding eye contact. Her gaze became serious. She knew what she had to do.  
Goku felt nervous as he saw that look from her. He hadn’t seen a look like that from her before. He hadn’t meant hurt the kid, but did she know that? He hoped so.  
….  
That afternoon, Rose had grabbed Goku by the hand right after he and finished lunch and immediately took him to the warp pad. Goku had been both apprehensive and curious as she lead him along. He asked her what they were doing, but she didn’t respond, making him even more scared. Was she going to just drop him off somewhere and leave him there forever? He hoped not. He didn’t want to be alone again. As they landed on the new warp pad, Goku found himself somewhere he had never been before.   
“What is this place?” he asked.   
“This is the Sky Arena,” she explained as she lead him out into the arena area, “Gems used to use this place to settle disputes in battle.”  
“Woah! Cool!” he exclaimed as he ran onto the tiled floor. He looked all around, marveling at his surroundings. His smile soon faded as he became confused again. “Why did we come here?” he asked, turning to her.  
“We came here, because this is where I will be teaching you martial arts,” she explained.  
Goku’s eyes widened in delight. “Really?!” he cried, practically dancing in excitement. Rose nodded not nearly as excited as he. “THIS IS SO AWESOME! THANK YOOOOUUUUU!” he cried running over to her and hugging her leg. Rose’s mouth twitched in amusement as he nuzzled into her dress. Suddenly he stopped and looked up at her in confusion. “But I thought I was in trouble ‘cause of earlier?” he asked, “Why are you being so nice?”  
“No, you’re not in trouble,” she said, “But why I’ve decided to train you, does relate to what happened earlier.” “You need to learn how to control yourself. What happened yesterday was an accident, and I do not blame you for what happened, but we can’t let things like that to continue to happen,” she explained, “through martial arts you can learn restraint and discipline.”  
“Discipline?” Goku questioned, “So I am going to get punished?”  
Rose smiled at him and patted his head. “No,” she assured, “This kind of discipline means being able to control your emotions. It still might be difficult and challenging, but it won’t be punishment.”  
“Ok then!” he quipped before skipping over to the center of the arena. “Let’s get started!” he announced, a determined smile sat on his face. His tail waved back and forth in excitement. Rose smiled as she watched him. She then stepped up onto the arena and began teaching him the first stance.  
….  
Several months had passed since then and Rose could honestly say that deciding to teach him martial arts was probably one of the best decisions she ever made. Not only had Goku gained better control of his strength, but it allowed her to really get close to the boy and become completely comfortable around him. As they spent time together, she became less and less worried about him hurting anyone or of his heritage. She didn’t see any underlying threat anymore to his love of hunting and meat or his eagerness to spar with and learn from her. For a while, she almost forgot he was a Saiyan at all!  
She only really remembered one morning when he was six and she had gotten him up early. “I have a big surprise for you Goku!” she said. As she lead the little boy along. She was really excited about what she had to show him. She had been planning it for months.  
Goku was not so excited. “Can’t we have breakfast first?” he asked with a yawn, rubbing his eye with his free hand.  
“Not this time,” she explained, “If we wait any longer, we’ll miss it!”  
“Miss what?” he asked as they exited the temple. The light of dawn shone over the ocean, bathing everything in it’s rosy-orange hue.  
Rose held a finger to her smiling lips with a wink. “Just watch!” she said. Goku nodded, still a little sleepy. He looked out over the beach as his mentor commanded. For a little while, nothing happened. Then he noticed something pink flutter in front of his face. He blinked in surprise as more began to drift passed on the wind. As they landed on the sand in front of him, he recognized them as some kind of flowers. He looked up and his eyes widened as he saw hundreds of them floating on the wind, twirling in the air.  
“Woah!” he whispered. “Rose! It’s raining flowers!” he cheered.   
She nodded at him, smile widening even further. Herlan had gone perfectly. A long time ago, long before she had even come to earth, she had found a particular species of plant that had caught her eye. A kind of moss that reproduced by sending its blooms out into the wind. Over the years she had become an expert at controlling its growth and she had spent the past few months cultivating it to make sure they would bloom at just the right moment. It had been a full year since they had met each other and and she wanted to celebrate it. “Aren’t they beautiful?” she said. Goku nodded enthusiastically. “I’m glad you like them so much,” she said, “Now go out and have some fun for a little while. I’m going to get you a very special breakfast.” The boy did as he was told and ran out onto the beach. Rose smiled as she watched him. She then headed back inside to start cooking.  
…  
A few hours later, she had several stacks of pancakes with whip cream and fresh strawberries she had gathered that morning set out on the warp pad. She had warm syrup of three different flavors(Maple, blueberry, and strawberry) along with very creamy butter ready to adorn the flapjacks with for the tiny warrior for when he returned. She had a basic idea of how to cook since she had first come to Earth all those years ago, but living with the young boy had made her really have to practice the skill. “Goku!’ she called, once everything was ready. A few minutes passed before he came running into the temple. he was a bit dirty and some petals stuck to his clothes.  
He eyed the food, mouth watering. “This looks amazing!” he exclaimed reaching for one of the strawberries. Rose had to gently swat his hand away.   
“Not just yet,” she said, “You need to wash your hands first. You don’t want to get sick do you?”  
Goku pouted and grumbled before nodding and heading inside the temple. A few minutes later he came running back, hands extended outwards.  
“Ok, my hands are clean!” he hurriedly proclaimed, waving them in her face, “Can I eat NOW?”  
“Hold on, let me look at them,” she said extending her hands out to take his. The little boy groaned and stomped his feet in protest, but allowed her to examine his hands anyways. As she did so, she looked up and noticed that over a dozen of the moss flowers had managed to get stuck in Goku’s wild hair. She bit her lip and brought a hand to her mouth to chuckle lightly.  
“What?” Goku said, cocking his head to the side.   
“It appears a few of the flowers decided to hitch a ride in your hair!” she noted.   
“Really?” he asked, reaching up to pull one out and examine it. “Huh...Eh...I’ll get rid of them later,” he said with a shrug, “Cause now it’s chow time, right?” Rose nodded and he quickly grabbed himself a plate and began scarfing down pancakes.   
Rose smiled as she watched him eat. Her eyes kept being drawn back to the flowers strewn in his hair. It was quite cute really; they almost formed a crown of sorts! “I never thought a Saiyan could look so adorable!” she thought to herself. Her smile then faded as realization dawned on her. This past year she had spent caring for, mentoring, and spending time with a creature from a species she never thought she could forgive! On top of that, the time they had spent together contained some of the happiest moments she had experienced in years! She couldn’t help but feel surprised with herself. If anyone had told her even a day before she met Goku that she would enjoy living with a member of such a violent species and that person would enjoy living with her in return, she would have thought them insane! Never in a million years would she have thought a Saiyan of any age could be anything more than a wild, violent warrior. Oh how wrong she had been.  
“Rose?” Goku said, snapping her out of her train of thought, “Why were you staring at the wall?”  
She blinked before smiling again. “Oh, no reason,” she lied, “I was just thinking.” Goku nodded and went back to eating. After a few moments she spoke again. “Goku?” she asked. The boy looked up and gave a muffled acknowledgement, cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk's full of food. “I just wanted to let you know, I’m really glad I got to meet you, and I’m very proud to have you as my student,” she said.  
The boy smiled before swallowing. “You too!” he said, “I like living with you and having you teach me! It’s fun!” He then took another bite of the pancakes. “And your food is really good!” he said, mouth full. Rose chuckled at that. He then swallowed and looked up at her. “Hey Rose?” he asked, “Can we go train in a forest today? The arena's fun but I kinda want to swing in some tree branches too.”  
“I think we can do that,” she said, “Just so long as you pay attention.”  
“OK!” he said with a nod as he finished up his plate.


	58. Protector meets Guardian

Kami, son of Katas, was a simple Namekian. No need for power, or land. He just needed enough to make it to the end of the week. His father had sent him out into the universe as a child, in hopes he would become a great star map maker. And a great map maker he was. His maps were some of the most accurate in the galaxy. However, this life had left him less than satisfied. It was boring. He may be traveling to new places, but it's not like he got a chance to land on many of the planets he recorded. After a while, one star looked like any other. Exploring a new solar system was less of an adventure and more like busy work.

Currently he was exploring Sol 752, a gem controlled solar system. He had gotten clearance to enter and make a map for another client. A map of the solar system hadn't been created in thousands of years.

He entered the system peacefully, no noise except the whirr of the engine. For a few days, everything played out as usual: get pictures, do a few equations, observe the orbits of the planets, write down the results, repeat. Then, as he was passing over the secondary asteroid belt, a warning signal went off on the control panel. Kami looked at it curiously. What could it mean? He thought he was the only one in this system at the moment.

Suddenly there was an explosion and the whole ship rocked violently. Kami fell out of his seat as another sounded. He climbed up to the window to look out and see what was going on. His eyes widened at what he saw. It was a quickly approaching dog fight between a Cold empire vessel and a gem ship. Lazers were firing everywhere from the two vessels. As another one accidentally hit the side of his ship, he set it into hyperdrive to get out of there as fast as possible. He didn't get very far, as another stray blast hit one of his engines. Lights started flashing inside the control room. Kami worked frantically as he tried to get the ship under control. He had to land, but where?

In the distance, he saw a small blue planet. He quickly had his scanners collect data on it. He smile as he saw the atmosphere and climate conditions. If he managed to survive the crash, he'd at least be able to survive long enough to fix his ship. He set a course for the rock and prepared himself for impact.

…

A large, red centipede like creature scuttled the jungles of the amazon. Rose and Pearl were in hot pursuit behind it, trampling through the brush. They winded through the gigantic tree trunks as they chased the gem beast, not letting themselves fall a step behind. Soon enough, they had cornered it. They came to the base of a cliff and they found the gem beast coiling in on itself. It hissed at them, ready to lunge. Before it could do anything, however, Pearl threw a spear through its center. The beast screeched in pain before dissolving into smoke. A single red stone fell to the ground and Rose walked up to it and picked it up. "Nice job, Pearl!" she congratulated, "That shot was perfect!" She then bubbled the gem and sent it away.

Pearl shrugged her shoulders in gratitude. "Oh it was nothing," she said waving her hand, "Just a little bit of practice a day is all that's chalked up to."

"Well, it's still quite impressive," she said, "In fact, I think I'd like to see what else you've been up to in your personal training. Maybe we can spar later?"

Pearl smiled. "That sounds lovely," she said, "Should we spar at the sky arena or the one in the nimbus valley?"

Rose tapped her chin in thought. Before she could say anything, however, something streaked across the sky. It created a sonic boom as it hurdled towards the ground. With a loud crash, it hit the ground, causing the earth to shake. "I'm afraid that will have to wait for now," she said, "We need to figure out whatever that was before it causes any harm." Pearl nodded and the two headed off after it.

….

They followed the trail of smoke to a crater where they saw a strange white space ship. It looked like some kind of cocoon with spikes sticking out of it. "It doesn't look like a gem ship," Pearl noted.

"So what kind of ship is it?" Rose asked. The heard a groan as a green hand gripped the edge of the crater. "Looks like we'll find out…" she muttered before running up to the edge of the crater, Pearl on her heels. When she did, she saw a green alien with antenna attempting to crawl out of the hole in the ground.

Kami looked up at her in surprise, the gem's concerned eyes staring back down at him. He didn't think there had been any gems stationed on this planet…

"Are you alright?" she said, helping him out.

"Yes, Thank you," he said as he stood up. "I'm glad you found me. I was worried I'd be stranded here," he explained, "I know gems hold claim on this solar system, but didn't think the had colonized any of the planets."

Rose and Pearl looked at each other before frowning. "It isn't," Rose stated firmly, "And it's not going to be if we have anything to say about it." Kami looked at her in confusion. What did she mean by that? "And that brings up a different question," she continued, eyeing him carefully, "Why did you come to this planet?"

Kami didn't understand why they were suddenly so defensive. "I'm sorry did I say something wrong?" he asked.

"Depending on how you answer this question, yes: Why were you in this solar system? Did the gems send you?" Pearl questioned.

"I was sent here to make a star map of the system for a galactic historical society. I am not working for any gems, but I was given clearance to be here. I crashed however when I got caught in a dogfight between a gem ship and a trespassing vessel," he explained.

The gems relaxed and Rose nodded. "Very well then," she said, "I believe introductions are in order then. I am Rose Quartz and this is Pearl. We're sorry for threatening you. We have to be cautious about who comes to this planet. We're not exactly affiliated with the diamond authority anymore."

"Why's that?" the Namekian asked curiously. He had thought quartzes were exceedingly loyal. What must have happened to cause her to defect?

Rose smiled. "It's a long story," she said, "Why don't you come back to our home so we can treat your wounds. We can tell you that particular tale when we get there." Kami smiled and nodded gratefully, leaning on her for support as they made their way to the warp pad. "By the way, what is your name?" she asked.

"Kami," he grunted.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Kami," she said.

….

Kami sat outside the temple gazing out into the ocean. His scrapes and burns had been completely healed by the tall, pink haired gem. He had been surprised by her power. He had never met a gem with healing abilities before. She must have been a particularly rare variety, an aristocrat even, making it even stranger that she would rebel against her people.

He turned as he saw Rose walk up behind him with a cup in her hands. "Here," she said offering it to them as she sat down next to him, "It's called tea. It's very soothing." He nodded and took the cup from her. He was thankful for their hospitality. The were willing to let him stay with them until he fixed his ship.

He took a sip from the cup of brown liquid in his hands. His eyes grew wide at the foreign flavor. "I've never tasted anything like this before," he said, "How interesting…"

"This planet has quite a few oddities," Rose responded, "It's unlike any other I've been to before."

"I assume that's why you like it so much," he guessed.

She chuckled slightly. "That among other things," she said, "But this planet truly is utterly unique."

"I'd say that about you too," he said, "I've never met a gem that care for organic life."

She smiled at him. "Maybe if you stick around long enough, you'll figure out why I do," she responded as she got up and headed back inside.

Kami looked out over the ocean. Maybe he would stick around. Just for a little while. After what he'd just been through, he deserved a vacation. He grinned and took another sip of the tea.


	59. Welcome to the Lookout

Kami had been wondering why Rose had been most distant with him lately. Ever since he sent her on that mission to Mount Paozu, she had been less and less responsive to him. When he spoke to her telepathically, she seemed distracted or she wouldn't respond immediately. When he sent her on missions, there would be a delay before she went on her way, and when he invited her to the Lookout to spent time together in person, she usually showed up late and a little disheveled.

When he asked her about it, she denied anything was wrong, but he knew she was lying. She was hiding something, but what, he didn't know. What he did know was that he hadn't expected it to be what stood before him now: a little boy with a monkey's tail.

He had finally worn her down and gotten her to promise to explain what was going on with her the next time she visited him. When he sensed the unfamiliar ki signature entering the lookout via the warp pad, he had though she had found a human that had caught her fancy. Much to his shock, it was no human, but a pint-sized space invader holding onto the skirt of her dress because he was too short to hold her hand.

Kami stared at the Saiyan with wide eyes, and the little boy looked back up at him with large, curious ones. "Kami," Rose said, breaking the awkward silence, "This is Goku. I found him in the woods of Mount Paozu and he's been staying with me ever since." She then turned to the child. "Goku, this is Kami," she explained, "He's an old friend of mine."

The boy's eyes narrowed before he turned to her and asked, "How come he has green skin and those dealies sticking out of his head?" He used his fingers to demonstrate by holding them to his forehead. Rose chuckled as Kami's eye twitched in annoyance.

"Those are antenna, Goku," she explained, "He has them because he's not human. He's from space, like me."

The boy cocked his head to the side and glanced at Kami. "But why hasn't he got a gem, then?" he asked.

"Well, he's not a gem. He's a Namekian," she explained, "There are all sorts of different people from space."

"Ooooooh," he responded, nodding slowly before turning back to the elderly green guardian. He smiled and stepped forward, hand extended. "Nice to meet you Mr. Kami-Namekian-guy," he greeted, "I'm Goku!"

Kami hesitated before taking the child's hand. "Yes...Very good," he said awkwardly, "Welcome to the Lookout." He then gave Rose a look that said "We need to talk."

Her grin faded and she nodded. "Oh Goku," she said, getting the boy's attention, "Would you like a tour of the lookout? I'm sure Kami's attendant would love to give you one." The boy smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

"Very well," Kami said. He brought a hand to the side of his mouth before calling for his companion. "Mr. Popo!" he called, "Your assistance is required!"

"Yes Kami?" a voice called. The pitch black genie stepped through the doorway. He looked mildly surprised when he saw Goku and gave a calm yet questioning look to Kami. The Namekian responded by mouthing "Don't ask" at him. The genie nodded before smiling again. "What is it that you need, sir?" he asked.

"I need you to give Goku a tour of the Lookout while I speak to Rose," he explained, "Do not let him out of your sight."

The genie smiled and nodded before extending a hand out to the Saiyan child. "Come along now," he said, "How about I show you the courtyard first."

Goku looked from the genie to Rose who nodded at him. He then took Mr. Popo's hand before walking out the door. The two watched them leave. Once Kami was sure the boy couldn't hear them, he turned to Rose.

"If this is some kind of elaborate prank, it's not funny," he stated, "Or have you finally be driven mad from isolation?"

Rose sighed and looked away. "Kami, I know what I'm doing. This one...He's different," she said.

"And how do you know that?" he asked.

"There isn't a cruel bone in his body, even if he does enjoy fighting," she explained.

"That may change. He is only a child after all," he argued, "One day he may want to embrace his Saiyan heritage."

"I don't know how he'll do that when he doesn't even know what a Saiyan is!" she snapped.

Kami's eyes grew wide. "What do you mean he doesn't know what a Saiyan is?" he asked.

"He thinks he's a human," she explained, "An old man found him in the woods as a baby and raised him all alone. He was barely in contact with other humans so he didn't know humans weren't supposed to have tails or his exceptional strength. As far as he's concerned, he's just a physically gifted little boy with a birth defect."

"He didn't just arrive recently?" Kami said quietly, "How strange…" "But that doesn't change anything. He's still dangerous to have here," Kami responded, crossing his arms.

Rose's brows furrowed at him. "What do you mean? How could there be a problem? He's one of the sweetest, most pure hearted child I've known!" she exclaimed.

"A pure heart isn't going to stop accidents from happening. Whether he knows it or not, he's still a Saiyan," Kami responded, "And that's something we can't change, and that's a big problem."

"Why?" she questioned, "If he can learn to control his strength, there should be no issue."

Kami sighed and turned away from her. "It's not his strength I'm worried about…" he muttered. "Rose," he said, "What happened to his previous caretaker?"

"He was killed," she stated.

"And you found the boy on Mount Paozu, correct?" he said, "the same place I sensed the monster?" Rose glared at him. "I take that as a yes," Kami continued, "And if I remember correctly, that night had been a full moon, meaning the old man had been killed by-"

"It was an accident! He wouldn't consciously hurt anyone like that!" she interrupted.

"Precisely. He isn't conscious in that form. If he transforms again, there is no reasoning with him in that state!" Kami exclaimed, "a listen to me, Rose. The boy may be able to integrate, but so long as he has no control over that form, he is a danger to everyone around him." "You live barely a mile away from a small beach town! What if he went ape and trashed the place? Any way you look at it, it's a dangerous and reckless decision!" he snapped as she turned away from him.

"Oh, and splitting yourself from your evil half to let it take form on the Earth just so you could be the world guardian wasn't?!" she snapped. Both of their eyes suddenly widened and Rose clapped her hands over her mouth. A silence fell between them. Rose froze in shock as she realised how far she had overstepped her boundaries. The origins of King Piccolo was a touchy subject for the both of them. "Kami, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-" she started.

"No," he said closing his eyes and turning his face downward, "You're right. That was one of the most reckless and dangerous decision I've ever made." He remembered all the destruction and anguish his other half had caused. Whole towns had burned to the ground at King Piccolo's hand and it seemed there was nothing they could do. No prison could hold him and killing him would mean killing Kami too. If they hadn't found a way to magically seal him away, he could have destroyed the whole Earth. It was his deepest shame. He would never live it down. "But that is why I'm apprehensive about this," he continued, looking up at her again, "I never want a repeat of King Piccolo again."

Rose's hands fell to her side as she looked upon him with sympathy. "Kami, You don't have to worry," she said, extending her hand to his shoulder, "It won't be like before. He's not going to end up like King Piccolo. I'll make sure of it."

"And how are you sure you can handle the task?" he asked.

"Well I've dealt with Saiyans before," she stated, "one more will be of no issue to me. And with you by my side, there isn't anything I can't handle."

Kami's mouth twitched in amusement as he scoffed. "Flattery will get you nowhere," he teased, "Still, I trust you."

"As you should," she responded with a smirk, "Now, let's go catch up with the tour…before Goku's curiosity gets the best of him and he gets into trouble." She began walking out the door into the courtyard.

"Let's hope he hasn't found the Hyperbolic Time chamber yet…" the Namekian said with a smirk as he followed after her.


	60. Recap

Greg was driving her back from Steven's Birthday Party and the car was quiet. Connie felt a little nervous. Since she had promised to be honest with her mother, she had been more apprehensive about coming home. Her mother always wanted to know what she had been up to, and it was futile trying to lie because even if she didn't tell her mother everything she would find out pretty quickly what she had been up to in her weekly tea times with Gohan's mother.

Sometimes it went well, like with her finding out about Icarus. Her mother had been apprehensive at first about the giant scaly pet, but after meeting him for herself and seeing how much of a giant puppy he was, she was less worried and actually very happy for her daughter. Not every parent could say their child could get a dragon to do as they said...not that she would brag about that. She'd be pinned as crazy before she knew it.

But then there were times she took it not so well...like when she found out Vegeta had started training Connie in ten times Earth's normal gravity. Apparently, there was a room in the temple with an adjustable gravity level. As soon as she heard that, she had marched right up to the Saiyan and began shouting at him for putting her daughter through that, even though Connie didn't mind it at all. "Her rib cage could crush her lungs or her heart could give out! What were you thinking?!" she questioned him.

To which Vegeta responded, "Screw you. My training, my rules." He then slammed the door in her face. Needless to say, Connie had not been allowed to train with Vegeta for a few weeks after that. Thankfully, after a while, they were able to come to an agreement of starting at twice Earth's gravity and ending at five times until further notice.

She hadn't been too happy about finding out a lot of other things after that, like how Korin was a cat that lived more than a mile above the surface of the Earth, or that Connie had been using Senzu beans after a workout session to get rid of any scratches and bruises she may have gotten, although she hadn't said anything. She had actually been pretty relieved about the Senzu bean thing once it was explained. She had been worried her daughter had become anorexic as she only seemed to pick at her food after a tough practice.

Connie didn't quite know what to say when she got home. How was she going to explain that Gohan's uncle who used to purge planets of life showed up demanding them to help him take down an intergalactic crime lord that he used to work for? Hopefully she'd have some time to think before her mother came home. Once she stepped up to the door, she took a deep breath before opening it...only to find her mother sitting in the living room, waiting for her. She looked up from her book and Connie swallowed before forcing a smile. "Hey Mom!" she said.

"Hello, sweetheart," she said, "How was Steven's Birthday party? Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Good!" she quipped, "It was great!"

"Good to hear…" her mother said as she read her book, "Who all was invited?"

Connie swallowed nervously. "Oh you know, just a few people...Steven's...Uh...family friends were there!" she said, "Just Gohan and his family and a few of Goku's old friends."

"Oh really?" she said, "That's nice." Connie sighed in relief and started heading to her room. "Did you get a chance to speak with Gohan's uncle? I hear he showed up at the last minute," her mother suddenly said.

Connie froze, and her eyes went wide. She slowly turned back to her mother. "H-how did you know about him?!" she questioned.

"Chichi called," she explained calmly as she got up, "She was warning me that he may or maynot be staying at their home and so he might be around when I come over."

Connie sighed. She should have known. "How much did she tell you about him?" she asked.

"Enough to know I wouldn't leave him alone with children," her mother said crossing her arms.

Connie sighed and rested her head against the wall of the stairway. "So I guess you're upset with that and don't want me anywhere near him…" She muttered, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Yes and no," her mother said, "I'm more upset that you tried to hide that little detail from me. I honestly thought we were passed all that." Connie looked at her in surprise before looking down. "As for letting you be around him, I only said I wouldn't want you to be around him alone," her mother said.

"Really?" Connie stated, "I thought you wouldn't want me anywhere near him!"

"Under any other circumstances I'd say yes," she responded, struggling with what she was about to say, "I might even want to move as far away as possible from him considering his history…but considering Stevens guardians and everything you've been through…I trust you to be safe around him when others are too." Connie suddenly smiled. "But that won't stop me from worrying...and you better tell me exactly what happens when you see him!" her mother said with a stern look, "I mean it! Anymore lying and I pull out the abacus to calculate exactly how much trouble you'll be it!"

Connie's eyes sparkled brightly before running up to her mother and hugging her. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she cried happily. Her mother smiled and hugged her back.

After a moment they separated. "Sooo…" Connie said, "Do you want to hear about who else I met the other day?"

Her mother cocked an eyebrow at her. "Who?" she asked.

Connie smirked. "The. Bulma. Briefs," she stated proudly.

Priyanka's eyes widened in surprise. "You're kidding!" She breathed.

"I'm not!" she said proudly.

Her mother was flabbergasted. "H-how?! Why?! What on Earth was she doing in Beach City?!" her mother cried.

"She was here for Steven's Birthday," Connie explained.

"WHAT?! How does Steven know her?!" her mother questioned, gripping her shoulders.

"She's close friends with Goku and Vegeta," she explained, "They apparently used to travel the world when they were young."

"Connie this is incredible!" her mother cried, hugging her, "I have never been so glad you met Steven!" She pulled away. "What's she like? How long is she staying in town? Did you make a good impression?" her mother rambled, "Was she interested in your training with Vegeta? Do you think she would be willing to write a recommendation letter for you when you're looking for colleges? Or maybe let you do an internship?" Connie chuckled as her mother continued with her endless stream of questions. She was just glad things had gone better than expected.


	61. Love Letters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: this takes place long after love letters in the steven universe canon

So what is this thing again?" the tall Saiyan asked as he examined the fried ring of dough in his hand. He sniffed it suspiciously. It smelled good but it didn't look like any kind of food he'd seen before. And it was so sticky too!

Lars and Sadie looked between each other nervously before glancing back up at him from behind the counter as he glared at the pastry. Steven and Gohan had assured them that he wasn't a threat when they had walked in, but it was hard not to feel intimidated by the giant man with a monkey tail.

"It's called a doughnut," Steven explained, "They're really good!"

"Yeah, Steven and I get them from here all the time! They're the best!" Gohan said, "Go on and try it." The two had been showing Raditz around beach city all day, hoping that it would help him get adjusted. They made a few pit stops along the way for snacks, this being one of them.

Raditz rolled his eyes at the urging of the two boys. He took an experimental bite from it and chewed it slowly. All four other people in the room waited for his response with anticipation (though Lars and Sadie were just hoping he wouldn't get upset). Raditz finally swallowed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Meh, I guess it was ok," he stated, "Too sweet for me." Regardless he finished the doughnut. The boys gave a look of disappointment while the two Big Doughnut employees breathed a sigh of relief.

"What? How can you not like doughnuts?" Steven questioned.

"I don't like sweet things," he stated simply before turning to leave, "But I did like those 'fries' things you showed me earlier. I'd rather go get more of those instead."

"Ok!" Steven chirped, taking the Saiyan's hand, "If that's what you want, then let's go!" The warrior glared as the half gem tugged him out the door, but he only grumbled in response.

….

Jamie hummed to himself as he went about his usual routine. Although he aspired to be a great actor, he still enjoyed his job as a postal worker. It was just so peaceful! It was nice to get to walk outside on such a beautiful day. Living by a beach only made it better. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the clean ocean air…

...Only to find himself slamming into what felt like a stone wall! Jamie stumbled back and gripped his nose. What had he hit? "Hey!" an ungrateful voice snapped, "Watch where you're going, whelp!"

Jamie opened his eyes, about to apologize, when he saw who he had bumped into. His jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide as he gaed upon the figure before him. Oh he hit something made of stone alright, but it wasn't a wall: it was a greek statue! Jamie had never seen anyone so stunning. The man before him towered over him, perfectly muscled with long, wild black hair flowing down his back. His gaze was piercing, particularly with that scowl that had formed on his angular face. Everything about him seemed perfect, from his shoulder to hip ratio to the way his nose pointed to even the fading scars that dashed his skin.

"I-I...Uh…" Jamie stutter.

"You what? Stop wasting my time with your pathetic stuttering!" the man snapped.

"Uncle Raditz! Be nice!" Gohan scolded, "Jamie didn't mean to bump into you." Raditz crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Sorry about him. He's a bit rough to new people, but he's nice once you get to know him!" Steven said.

"Oh...T-that's...good to h-hear," he continued stuttering, knees feeling weak. "I-I have to go do...mail stuff...BYE!" he squeaked. He then ran passed them.

Raditz raised an eyebrow as they watched the mail carrier run off. "Bye Jaimie!" Steven called.

….

Jamie saw the three children walking out of the big doughnut. He took a big breath and steeled himself as he clutched the letter in his hands. He had to do this. He knew it was a long shot, but he had to at least try, right? He was needed some kind of answer. He'd go insane if he didn't know whether that man returned his feelings or not. With that, he marched over to them.

Steven noticed him walking over to them. "Oh hey Jamie!" he greeted, "What's up?"

Connie and Gohan looked at him curiously. Jamie sweated nervously as he tried to gather his nerves. "Uh...I have a letter," he stated, "f-for that guy that was with you yesterday…"

Steven and the others looked confused. "You mean Raditz?" he asked. Jamie nodded.

"Why would anyone be sending him mail?" Connie questioned, "Who would be sending him mail?"

Jamie swallowed. "It's from me, ok?" he said. The three children looked surprised. "J-just give it to him, alright? Please?"

"Ok…" Steven said slowly. With that, the flustered mailman ran off.

The three children watched him run off before looking back at the letter. "I wonder what he wrote…" Gohan said.

"Whatever it is seemed pretty important…" Steven observed, "We should probably get it to him right away." With that they headed back to the barn to deliver the parchment.

…

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The two children watched as the Saiyan fell into a fit of laughter. Connie and Steven hadn't even finished reading the letter and Raditz was already rolling on the floor with laughter. "No more!" he cried between fits, "I don't think I can take anymore of this garbage!"

Connie frowned at him. "Stop it!" she cried, "It's not funny! He's pouring his heart out to you!"

"You're right!" he said, sitting up and seeming to calm down, "It's not funny. It's hilarious!" he then fell back in laughter again.

"Raditz!" Steven cried, "At least try to take this seriously! He's doing the best he can to express his love for you!"

The adult Saiyan wiped a tear from his eye as his laughter died down. "Doesn't matter if he's trying his best, cause I'm not interested," he said simply, "He's not my type."

"You're type?" Connie questioned. "So...You are or aren't into guys? Or are you just not into humans?...If you don't mind me asking..." she looked down in embarrassment as she finished her question.

Raditz gave an amused look. "Do you really think I have any kind of preference on stuff like that?" he questioned, "I've spent years alone in space as the presumed last of my kind. Stuff like that stops mattering after a while." His grin widened as Connie looked away uncomfortably at his statement. "Anyways," he said, changing the subject, "When I said type, I meant personality type. The guy's a whimp and seems pretty emotionally dependant and overly sensitive. On top of that he looks like he could barely lift ten pounds." Raditz crossed his arms and shook his head. "No Saiyan would want to have anything to do with him," he stated.

The two children looked confused. "What do you mean?" Steven asked.

"Saiyans generally aren't attracted to each other based on physical features," Raditz explained, "We're a warrior race. Whatever good looks we are born with generally get spoiled by all the battle scars we get. Instead we find personality types and physical strength more appealing. We value strong-will, independent, and driven partners above all else, no matter the gender."

"Really?" Connie asked.

"Yeah!" Raditz said with shrug, "Why do you think my brother married that Chichi woman? Or why the prince has the hots for that Bulma lady?"

The pair's eyes widened in realization. "That...actually explains a lot…" Steven said.

"No kidding…" Connie whispered.

"Well," Raditz said getting up, "This has been fun, but I need to get a workout in."

"Wait!" Steven cried, "What about Jamie?"

"What about him?" the Saiyan called over his shoulder, "I already told you my answer. Go relay it to him."

Connie and Steven turned to look at each other as he left. "So should we write a response back?" Steven asked.

"Yeah...Though we should probably let him down gently," Connie said, "Raditz is right. He seems pretty sensitive."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. This is just a quick note about the new episodes coming up in the "In too deep" special five week line up. I will most likely be avoiding writing anything relating to those episodes for a little while. I have no idea how they are going to be incorporated into the grand scheme of things, so I want to play it safe for a while and not mess with them too much until I have figured out how they fit in. I'll still be writing, but I'll probably be doing more with episodes from season 1 and a few more flashback chapters. Possibly some ones with greg and the z warriors. Thanks for reading guys, and I hope you understand.


	62. Rose's Armory part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although this replaces Rose's Scabbard, this takes place closer to Lion 3 straight to Video and Warp Tour.

Connie narrowed her eyes at the Saiyan prince across from her as she stood poised for attack. His arms were crossed as he glanced from her to the Steven who was standing in a similar position. He glanced between them for a few more seconds before Connie acted first. She launched herself at him, attempting to punch him in the cheek. His arm shot up and caught her fist. She attempted a few more jabs at him, to which he blocked each one. He then grabbed her arm and threw her aside before turning to block Steven's sudden barrage of fists. She somersaulted backwards and landed onto her feet before she charged at him again. She attempted to sweep his leg out from under him while he was distracted, but he suddenly jumped into the air, grabbed Steven, and flung him into her.

The two tumbled over echo the on the arena floor before rolling to a stop. The two got up in time to see the prince charging a weak ki blast in the palm of his hand. They jumped out of the way as he fired the sphere of energy at them. They jumped out of the way to dodge it. He continued firing at them until Steven formed a bubble around them. The two smirked before they began rolling towards the Saiyan as fast as they could he tried firing them again, but did not slow their pace. Just as they were about to roll over him, he placed his hands out and brought them to a screeching halt as he caught it and pushed against it. Pushed him back a foot, but his stance remained firm.

Once they had come to a complete stop, the bubble dissolved and the tired children collapsed. Vegeta looked at them before turning to walk away. "That's enough for today," he said, "Although your physical strength still leaves a lot to be desired, your speed is improving, Connie. You should be able to catch up with Steven in a few months."

"Really?" she said, getting up.

The Saiyan nodded. "Your gem powers are also improving, Steven," he noted, "But work on your timing. You're getting sloppy. You should have jumped me while I was still distracted by Connie."

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!" Steven panted as he bowed. Connie also bowed. Vegeta looked over his shoulder before nodding at them. He then began walking towards the inside area of the sky arena. The two followed him towards the warp pad.

"Hey Vegeta?" Steven asked as they approached the crystal surface, "Since you said Connie and I are improving so much, do you think we could start learning-"

"No," Vegeta stated firmly, "I've told you a thousand times you aren't ready for training with ki energy yet. If you ask me again, you'll regret it."

"Awe come on!" he cried, "Why not? It's been a full year since I the last time I asked, and i've been training every day since then!"

Vegeta frowned in annoyance. "No, it's only been about 310 days since you last asked. You've still got a good month and a half before you can claim that," he retorted, not looking at the boy.

Before Steven could speak again, Connie placed a hand on his shoulder in assurance and stepped forward. "Prince Vegeta, Sir," she said, "I understand I am nowhere near ready for something like that, but Steven has been studying under you for years! Couldn't you at least teach him the basics?"

Vegeta stopped and took a sharp breath in. His mouth twitched and his fists clenched in agitation. "No," he stated simply, "While I'm glad Steven's so willing to push himself, he does not have the discipline for it yet." Steven sigh in disappointment while Connie's shoulders fell. "But because you two are so willing to push yourselves," Vegeta said with a dark smirk, "You two can enjoy a ten lap cool down around the arena before you can head back to the temple." Steven and Connie's eye's grew wide and their jaws dropped. "I told you you'd regret it," he reminded.

They began to protest when Vegeta held his hand up to stop them. "Do you want me to add five more laps?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

both sighed in defeat. "No…" they muttered.

"Good, now get moving before I have the chance to," he said. With that, the two were off.

….

Goku licked his lips as closed the refrigerator with his foot, looking up at the mountain of food in his arms. He sloshed it onto a plate, before pulling out a knife and a cutting board. He pulled a honey melon from the pile and was about to slice into it when the warp pad lit up.

Vegeta stood in the center of the group and the two children stood on either side. They collapsed with a groan as soon as they touched down.

Goku frowned and whistled. "Woah, Vegeta really put you through the wringer today, didn't he?" he noted.

"We asked Vegeta to teach us about Ki energy," Steven admitted.

"I'll take that as a yes," Goku said as he walked over to them and picked them up before walking them over to the couch. "Come on, You two deserve a nap...or lunch. Have you guys had lunch yet?" he said as he carried the children over to the sofa and dropped them on it.

"Nap now, food later," Connie mumbled. The two kids were out like a light as soon as they hit the cushions.

Goku smiled at the pair but it fell as he turned to vegeta. "I agree he's still not ready for anything like the Kamehameha wave, but he has been working hard. Maybe we should give him a change of pace," Goku said folding his arms and moving back over to the counter.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "Change of, pace? I've been giving him a harder move set and more difficult drills on a daily basis," Vegeta argued.

"I was thinking maybe better defensive training. His weapon is a shield after all," Goku said with a shrug, "Oh I know! Maybe you could use something from Rose's armory. She stored a lot of our old training equipment in there."

Vegeta smiled and brought a hand up his chin. That could work, actually. He remembered Rose having a training turret that had different elemental settings. Also it was about time they showed him the armory. He was to inherit it after all.

….

When Vegeta told Steven he had something important to show him, the teen had been excited. When he had had taken him to the warp pad, Steven was practically bouncing with excitement.

When they warped into a canyon, his excitement had diminished...mostly due to Vegeta's next few words.

"Now it's just a three-hour hike that way, followed by a vertical climb at 90 degrees," He stated as he stepped off the warp pad, "Let's get started."

"Uh...can't we just fly over there?" Steven suggested.

"Don't be ridiculous," Vegeta stated as he began walking away, "There's no reason not to walk. You've been on longer hikes before. Besides the exercise will do you some good." Steven's shoulders slumped and he pouted.

When Vegeta noticed the boy hadn't started following him and turned towards him. Steven gave him a pleading look. Vegeta glared at him before he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I won't make you climb the cliff side, alright?" he relented.

Steven sighed in relief and followed after the prince of Saiyans.

…..

"So this place used to belong to my mom?" Steven asked as they flew up the side of the cliff.

Vegeta nodded. "It's where she kept much of her training equipment and weapons," he explained, "She used to take Kakarot and I here when we were younger for advanced training sessions."

"Really? What about Piccolo? Did she train him here?" Steven asked.

Vegeta shook his head. "No. Piccolo knows about this place but to my knowledge he's never been here. He was too young and inexperienced to train here when Rose would have been able to," he explained.

The Saiyan flew into the wide open space and set the boy down. "This is it, your mother's secret armory," he announced. He crossed his arms over his chest and grinned. He remember when Rose used to take the two Saiyans here. He still had some fond memories of it.

"Woah cooool!" Steven breathed. "I've been here before!" he announced.

Vegeta's eyes widened at that statement. "What did you say?" he questioned, "That's impossible! No one knows where this place is except Kakarot and I!"

"But I'm telling the truth! Connie and I came here a while back with lion!" Steven argued as he stepped onto the illuminated panel.

Vegeta gave a dumbfounded expression as he processed what the half gem had just said. "HOW?" he snapped.

"Lion teleported us," he explained casually as he approached the podium in the center.

"The lion?!" Vegeta sputtered. So many questions flooded through his mind. The lion could teleport? How? What other powers did it have? And how did it know how to get here? Steven didn't respond as opened up different secret panels revealing all sorts of object like suits of armor and light cannons.

"So what are we looking for?" Steven asked.

Vegeta blinked out of his shock. "We're looking for a defense turret for your training," he explained, "It fires three different kinds of elemental attacks and floats. Here, just let me find it." Vegeta started walking towards the panel when Steven gave a guilty look.

"Oh...THAT…" he said, "Yeah, I don't think we can use that…Connie and I kinda broke it…"

Vegeta suddenly turned on his heel and stared at him incredulously. "You WHAT?!" he cried.

"I'm sorry!" Steven said holding his hands up, "Please don't be mad!"

"I'm not mad," Vegeta continued, "If anything I'm a little proud...But I just can't believe it! That thing was used to ward off battalions of other gems! How could you possibly destroy it?"

"Well, you see, Connie and I had this pink sword and we-" he started but was suddenly cut off as Vegeta grabbed him by the shoulders and look intently into his eyes.

"Did you say a pink sword?" he demanded quietly.

"Y-yeah…?" Steven admitted.

"Show me where it is," Vegeta ordered, "immediately!"

….

"Dododododododdodo...Here it is!" Steven announced as he pulled the sword out of Lion's mane. Goku and Piccolo looked on in shock and awe while Vegeta glared in annoyance. They had spent years looking for it after it disappeared from the armory...and yet this creature had it all along!

"This is awesome!" Goku said, "And here we thought it was gone forever! Vegeta sworn someone had stolen it."

"I'm just trying to wrap my head around how it fit inside his mane," Piccolo said, crossing his arms, "What? Has he got some kind of pocket dimension in there?"

"Yeah there's this island thing and there and I store stuff in it all the time!" Steven explained. To prove his point, Steven jumped inside and came out with his bicycle. Vegeta's eye twitched as he watched him ride around.

"Woah, cool!" Goku exclaimed, "What else have you got in there."

"Well-"

"What is wrong with you?!" Vegeta suddenly shouted, "Aren't any of you going to question why that creature had it in the first place?!"

They all blinked away their startlement at his outburst. "Well it's kind of obvious why," Piccolo said, "He probably belonged to Rose."

"Yeah, I mean, he is pink," Goku pointed out, "If that's not an indicator then I don't know what is."

Vegeta growled and rubbed his hand down his face. "Just because he's pink doesn't mean he's Rose's?" he snapped, "If he was Rose's, then why have we never seen him before Steven found him?"

Goku shrugged. "Maybe it just never came up in conversation," he suggested.

"While it is suspicious, there is a lot that Rose never told us," Piccolo offered.

Vegeta gritted his teeth together. He knew Piccolo was right, but that didn't mean he wasn't angry about it. He didn't care what the others thought. This was all just too suspicious. This animal just shows up out of nowhere, has strange powers, and is way too intelligent for it's own good and Rose didn't tell them anything about it. If it really was hers, then why hadn't she told them about it, especially if it knew where her armory was?

"Whatever…" he grumbled before grabbing the sword off the ground and marching off to the temple door.

"Hey!" Steven shouted.

"Vegeta, what are you doing?" Piccolo questioned, "That isn't yours, It's Steven's."

"I'm making sure no one steals it again," he stated tersely before entering his room, the door slamming shut behind him.


	63. Rose's Armory part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick warning: Vegeta is kinda cruel in this chapter. Not anymore than he usually is in dragon ball z (probably a lot less actually), but some might cringe at his actions.

Vegeta glared down at the sword in his hands with scrutiny as he sat down on his bed in the darkened room. The illusion of the ever expanding cosmos slowly rotated in all its celestial glory on his ceiling as it always did, but the prince ignored it as if it wasn't even there. His gaze was focused on the well worn weapon of his old master. Even as he pulled it out of its sheath and felt the cool, alien metal that made up the blade, he still found it hard to believe he was holding it again. It had originally disappeared sometime around Rose's death, but no one knew exactly when. For obvious reasons they had all been a little preoccupied at the time. However, when they had found out about its disappearance, they had all been just as enraged as if it had just happened.

They had been looking for it for years, hoping to restore her honor by returning it to its rightful place in her armory. They thought it had been lost forever...and yet it had somehow wound up in the hands of her son Steven...all because of that damn lion.

Vegeta growled in frustration as he noted that. He had always been suspicious of that cat. He knew that there was something wrong with it. He had seen a lot of strange creatures in his lifetime, but somethings are just too difficult to believe are normal. And this new information made it even harder to believe. Particularly with the sudden interest the Diamond Authority seemed to be having with the little planet. That peridot showing up in the galaxy warp with her robots had set him on edge, and because of that, Vegeta had been having some very interesting revelations...like how that lion had shown up only a few weeks after the red eye came to Earth…

It seemed so clear now that he thought about it that the beast probably had something to do with the gems. It seemed too smart for its own good sometimes. And now it seems the creature has a pocket dimension inside it. No organic life form can contain entire dimensions insider their bodies. It's impossible for most species to even build something that could...except for gems. Vegeta knew that gems were known for being able to create amazing illusions. It wouldn't be hard to believe they could disguise some machine as an Earth creature to gather intelligence. His fist clenched at that thought.

A small part of him couldn't deny that the lion could have been Rose's, but a larger, much more skeptical part of him still refused to believe that. That part of him had saved his hide multiple times under Frieza's, allowing him to dodge around assassination attempts and plots to frame him for another's folly, so he wasn't about to brush that voice to the side. And right now that voice kept repeating one question: If Rose did know about Lion, then why didn't she tell any of them about him, especially if she left something so important with him? To Vegeta the answer was simple: because she didn't.

And that was why he was now sneaking out in the middle of the night to find the beast. Whatever that thing was here for, he was going to find out one way or another. He's wasn't going to take anymore chances and let their security be breached. He slipped silently out of the house, making sure he didn't cause Steven to stirr. Goku was at his house with his family and Piccolo had retired to his own room, so no one was around to see him step out. He found it underneath the staircase of the house as usual. Vegeta had never felt so glad he made sure that animal had stayed out of the house.

The "animal's" ear twitched slightly as he felt Vegeta approach. Lion opened one eyelid to gaze lazily up at the Saiyan. The creature seemed completely relaxed, not sensing the prince's hostile intentions. This allowed the Saiyan to grab the beast roughly by the back of his mane with little more than a startle grunt, to which Vegeta quickly silenced with a hand clamping down forcefully on Lion's muzzle. He attempted to struggle, but stopped as the Saiyan jabbed him in the side with a knee.

"Don't try anything…" the saiyan warned quietly, "I know you can understand me, so you better cooperate." When he didn't get a response, Vegeta continued. "We are going on a little road trip," he said as he began to hover into the air while still holding Lion, "and once we've reached our destination, you're going to give me all the information I want, or I'll be having to explain to Steven how you 'ran away to a farm'." A deeper frown formed on the Saiyan's face as he heard the large cat growl. With another quick jab to the side, the animal was silenced again. With that, Vegeta flew off, the big cat dangling helplessly beneath him like a mouse in the clutches of an eagle.

….

Vegeta flew for miles and miles out into the middle of nowhere until he found the perfect spot to land: a large pit in the middle of the desert landscape. He dropped Lion inside as he was still hovering a few feet above the ground. As soon as the cat hit the ground, he turned around and arched his back, growling at the Saiyan as he unsheathed his claws. Vegeta glared at the cat as he touched down. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," he said cracking his knuckles, "You can either voluntarily show me what you really are, or I can make you."

Lion lunged at him, attempting to tackle the prince to the ground. Vegeta quickly dodged him, before grabbing him by the leg and flinging the cat into the wall of the pit. "They hard way it is, I guess," Vegeta said with a smirk.

As Lion picked himself up, Vegeta grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and slammed him against the wall of the pit. "Now, are you going to cooperate?" he growled. Lion snorted at him, to which Vegeta slammed the cat again against the wall of the cavern, this time with enough force to create cracks in the rock. "Show me what you really are, dammit!" he snapped, "Do you think I'm some kind of idiot? Did you think I was just going to brush aside that you had one of Rose's most prized possessions? I know you aren't from here. So stop pretending and start explaining! What are you, and what the hell are you doing on this planet!"

Lion remained silent, fear clear in his eyes. Vegeta growled before throwing the animal to the ground. As the cat scrambled back onto all fours, a large ball of ki started forming in the Saiyan's hand. The cat backed up as Vegeta aimed it at him. "I'm done playing games!" he snapped, "Now show me what I want to see!"

Lion's ears folded back and he bowed his his head as his mane started glowing. Vegeta raised an eyebrow as something protruded from the cat's mane: a brown cardboard box. Lion backed away from it, still eyeing Vegeta nervously as the ki energy dispersed from his palm. He approached the box carefully, still eyeing the wild cat. He picked it up and examined the contents. His eyes widen as he saw three VHS tapes in the box. To his surprise each one had a name written on it. One was labeled "Goku", another "Piccolo", and the last had his own name written on it. He picked up the tape and examined it. He nearly dropped it from surprise. He recognised the handwriting. How could he not? It was Rose's.

He glared at the plastic rectangle containing film. But that was impossible! Rose hadn't kept anything like this in her armory, and nothing had been stolen from the temple, because no one could get in besides her, Goku, Piccolo, and himself. The only answer was...she had put it there herself.

Vegeta felt like an idiot. The answer had been staring him in the face, but he had been too caught up in his own stubbornness and skepticism to see it. On top of that, this created more questions. Why didn't Rose tell them about Lion? What reason did she have for hiding him from them? The thought left a slight sting as it entered his mind. Maybe whatever was on this tape would explain. Speaking of which…

Vegeta turned to the big cat who was now glaring at him. Vegeta sighed as he placed the box under his arm. Getting the cat home was going to be tedious. Hopefully he won't make too much noise.

…

It had been a long time since Vidalia had someone knocking on her door in the middle of the night. Generally it only happened when she was young, when Vegeta had done something reckless and/or stupid in a fit of rage and was too tired or wasn't in the mood to deal with Rose's scolding at the time. Even then, those times had been few and far-between.

Now it had been over twenty years since that had last happened, but all of a sudden, here she found herself again, answering the door to find the Saiyan prince standing on her doorstep. "Vegeta?" she asked, rubbing her eyes, "What the heck are you doing here? As much as I enjoy your company, it's past midnight and I'm already not a morning person."

"I need your TV," he stated.

"Why?" she asked. He held up a VHS. "Wait, don't you have a TV with VHS player?" she asked.

"I can't watch this at the temple," he explained, "Steven can't see it. It's private." There were several reasons as to why he didn't want Steven to see the film. Mostly, he didn't want to explain how he acquired it. But also, it had been made specifically for him. Vidalia raised an eyebrow at him and she gave him a wry smile. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Vegeta glared at her and cut her off. "If you're going to make a dirty joke about Steven not being able to watch it, don't. I'm not in the mood," he stated.

Vidalia pouted. "Aw come on! You woke me up in the middle of the night!" she complained, "At least allow me one dig at your ego…" Vegeta gave her an unamused look as she allowed him in. "So, can I ask what's actually on the tape?" she asked.

"It's a message from Rose to me," he explained.

"Woah, really?" Vidalia said, eyes widening, "Where did you find that?" Vegeta averted his eyes. Vidalia raised an eyebrow at him. "Acquired illegally, immorally, or both?" she asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Possibly both," Vegeta stated, walking over to the TV.

"I guess it wouldn't be one of your midnight visits if you weren't guilty of doing something wrong," Vidalia said with a shrug, "Want me to sit down and watch it with you?"

"No," he said simply as he put the tape in.

"Ok," she said, "I'll make sure the boys stay upstairs. Just keep it down alright?" Vegeta nodded in compliance and immediately went to adjust the volume settings. Vegeta sat back on the couch and pressed play on the remote. The screen switched from the neon blue to the start of the tape. Vegeta's mouth twitched slightly as Rose's image appeared on the screen as she adjusted the camera. It had been a long time since he had seen her face anywhere outside a photograph. It was almost strange to see her moving in front of him again, doing normal things and honestly not looking photogenic, but frustrated and slightly exasperated as she muttered while she fumbled with the Earth technology.

Finally she sat down and smoothed out her dress before smiling at the camera. Then she spoke. "Hello, Vegeta," she greeted. He had almost forgotten what she had sounded like. Vegeta folded his hands and rested his chin on them as he continued. "Or at least I hope you're the one watching this right now," she continued in a knowing, motherly tone, "Steven, if this is you, I hope you realize that you're invading Vegeta's privacy by watching this. Now turn off the video and return it to him." Vegeta smirked at the light scolding. He remembered she used to scold Piccolo and Goku like that. He, on the other hand, usually received a far worse tongue lashing, though she usually tacked on a "I do this because I worry about you," at the end to try and balance it out. Oh, if Steven had seen what Rose had acted like when he misbehaved. His whole perception of his mother might change.

"Now that Steven has hopefully stopped watching or he'll be in big trouble," she continued, "Vegeta, I want to start off by telling you how proud of you I am." The kind words suddenly caught him off guard and his amused smirk fell. "Over the years I watched you grow and change," she continued, "I watched you stagger and fall back at times, but never give up, and I am so glad to have seen you turn into the amazingly loyal and dedicated young man you've become." The Saiyan prince felt a tightening in his chest. He didn't know what to think about this feeling.

"I'm proud to have watched you become stronger than any other creature alive on Earth," she continued, "But most of all, I'm proud to have seen you make yourself into you're own person." His eyebrows knit together in confusion at that. "It's hard for people to let go of the past," she clarified, as if reading his mind, "It's hard to not let it define you. To not fall into old habits and states of minds. But you've overcome all that. You aren't a monster. You haven't let Frieza rule your mind. In the end, you really didn't let me do much more than gently guide you. You don't take orders, you make your own path."

"Also, I want to thank you," she continued. Vegeta's eyes widened slightly at that. "Thank you for looking after the Earth all these years with Goku and Piccolo," she said, "I know you don't care for the people of the Earth like I or Goku, but I appreciate all you've done." "And because I assume Steven gave you this after he found where I hid it for him," she continued and Vegeta averted his eyes from the screen for a moment, "I want to thank you for looking after him. I can't even begin to express how glad I am that you promised to be there for him."

"But I don't want you to feel like you're trapped here," she said. Vegeta sat up in surprise. "When you came here, you were determined to stop Lord Frieza, and it has driven you in all you've done since, and I don't want you to stop yourself from doing so," she explained, "Once you feel like you're ready to take him on, I want you to do so. Protecting the universe from him should take priority over the promise you made to me to stay here." "You're strong Vegeta. Strong and determined. If anyone is going to be able to stop him, I know it'll be you," she said with a bright smile, "You can do it, I know you can. Now go on and live a good life, my super Saiyan." The video cut out and the screen went blank. The room was filled with silence as the prince processed everything that had just been said.

When she couldn't hear anymore noise,Vidalia reentered the room to see him sitting in silence on the couch, his expression unreadable. Her brows knit together slightly. "Hey," she said, "Are you ok?"

"Hn," was the only response she received as he nodded. He then got up and pressed the eject button on VCR to eject the tape. He walked past her and gave her a nod of "thank you," before leaving without another word.

….

Goku entered the temple the next morning to quite a surprising site: lion was lying on a comforter in the middle of the room, purring as Steven played with him. He blinked in confusion as Steven noticed him and waved at him. "Hey Goku!" he chirped.

"Hey..." he responded either a half smile, "Uh...Steven? What is lion doing in the house? I thought Vegeta didn't like him inside the temple."

"He did, but this morning he said Lion could come inside whenever he wanted! Isn't that great?" Steven said excitedly.

Goku's eyes widened in surprise. "Yeah….Great! Ahahaha…" he said, laughing nervously. He really had no clue what was going on. None of this made sense. Why would Vegeta let Lion in the temple? Particularly after yesterday? Did something happen while he was with Chichi and Gohan last night? Goku shook his head and shrugged. Whatever the reason for this change of heart was, he should just be glad it happened. After all, if Vegeta was finally warming up to the big cat, that had to be a good thing, right? Right.


	64. To Protect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: lots of feels ahead

Peridot sat curled up in the corner of the barn rocking back and forth in fetal position. She couldn’t believe she had done that. She called her diamond a clod right to her face! She was a traitor! An outcast! No...she was worse! She was an enemy of the empire now! She could never set foot on another gem controlled planet again! There could be wanted transmissions sent to ships all across the galaxy by now. If anyone found her anywhere in the gem empire, she could be killed on the spot.  
Peridot’s eyes widened as she realised something: Earth was technicality PART of the gem empire! Peridot curled up in a ball and began crying. What was she going to do? What if somebody decide to come to earth and look for her? What if Yellow Diamond sent someone after her? What if Yellow Diamond sent some of Frieza’s men after her?! What if she sent the entire ginyu force after her?! Peridot resigned herself as she continued her break down. She was doomed.  
As she continued to wipe tears out from under her visor, she heard a voice call to her. “Peridot?” the high pitched voice called, “Peridot! Where are you? Bulma needs your help.” It was Gohan.  
“Leave me alone!” she snapped, hoping the tiny Saiyan would just go away. That did not work however, as Gohan crawled up into the space she was hiding in.  
He looked at her curiously, arching an eyebrow at her and cocking his head to the side. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked, scooting a bit closer to her.  
Peridot looked away from him. “Yes, now go away. I need to be alone,” she said. She didn't want to be around others right now. She just wanted to curl up and hide away from her fear and slight shame.  
“Are you sure?” he asked, “You don’t look ok. Is there something on your mind?”  
“I-I…” she started, “I’m scared ok?” “I’m scared of Yellow Diamond. I’m scared of what she might do to me! Do you know what they do to gems that talk back to her?! Terrible, terrible things! I could be shattered! And yet I felt so free doing so...” “I mean I don’t want to go back. I don’t regret chosen to stay on Earth, but at the same time I REGRET EVERYTHING!” she cried breaking down again. She hid her face in her hands as she sobbed. Gohan looked at her sympathetically before wrapping his arms around her and giving her a comforting squeeze.  
“Hey,” he said, “It’s gonna be ok. You’ve got my dad, Uncle Raditz, Mr. Piccolo, Mr Vegeta, Steven, and I looking out for you.”  
Peridot gave him an odd look. “No offense, but what can you do?” she questioned, “I mean, you’re not nearly as strong as the others, let alone strong enough to take on Yellow Diamond.”  
“I’ll get stronger then,” he said confidently, “And when I do, I’ll make sure that no bad guy comes close to hurting you or this planet.”  
“Really? You’d do that?” she asked. Gohan nodded at her. “Wow…” she said with a small smile, “Thanks.”  
…..  
Peridot growled in frustration as she glared at the object on the shelf. She stretched her her arm as far as she could and stood on her toes, and yet it managed to elude her grasp. She huffed in annoyance and looked down in embarrassment. Curse her current stature. It was times like this that she wished she still had her limb enhancers.  
“Hey Peridot,” she heard a voice call. She turned to see Gohan enter her work space. The eight year old half Saiyan was just returning from a training session. “What’s new with you?” he asked.  
Peridot smiled as an idea came to mind. “Ah Gohan!” she said, “Excellent timing. I am in need of you assistance.  
The half Saiyan cocked his head at her. “Oh really?” he asked, “What do you need?”  
Peridot pointed to the tool on the shelf. “This drill is ever so slightly out of my radius,” she explained, “I need you to allow me to sit on your-” However, she was not able to finish as Gohan simply walked over and reached up to grab the tool from the shelf. Peridot blinked in surprise before a revelation washed over her. “Gohan?” she said.  
“Yeah?”  
“Please explain to me how you managed to succeed my height by several inches.”  
The half Saiyan looked at her in confusion. “Um...I ate healthy food and got enough sleep?” he said, “I dunno, that's just what happens to a kid as they get older. They grown up. All organic life does that.”  
Peridot gave him a baffled expression. “All of it?!” she questioned in shock.  
“Yeah, I used to be much smaller before I met you,” Gohan explained, “And my dad was about your height when he was my age.”  
“You’re kidding me!” she responded, annoyance clear in her voice, “That’s just not fair! Why do you get to maintain constant growth while I’m stuck at this stature?!”  
Gohan chuckled. “It’s not so bad,” he said, “Look at it this way, now you’ll be surrounded by a bunch of big, tough strong guys all the time. No one will want to mess with you!”  
Peridot tapped her chin thoughtfully and grinned. “I guess you do have a point,” she said, “though I’d hardly call you and Steven tough. You two could barely hurt a fly.”  
Gohan rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. “You got me there!” he chirped.  
….  
This was a mistake. A huge, horrible mistake. Peridot shook as she stared up as the this they hovered above them. They had gone looking for them, hoping to end things peacefully by talking things out (Steven’s idea). It’s not like they had many other options, what with most of the Z fighters being dead, so Peridot and Gohan had agreed. But things had not gone as expected at all. They had been ambushed and beaten by the cybernetic twins, and it didn’t look like they were planning to end their assault any time soon.  
“Please stop!” Steven pleaded, “We don’t want to fight you!”  
“Then why did you come looking for us?” Android 18 asked.  
“We wanted to end this peacefully,” Steven said, “I don’t care what Gero told you, but you don't have to do this. He’s dead! You aren’t bound by his commands.” “This world is an irreplaceable, beautiful place. If you stopped destroying it, maybe you could find a place to live here in peace!” he continued, “This world is your home just as much as it is mine and everyone else living here. Can’t we figure out a way to share it?”  
The androids were silent for a few moments before sharing a look with each other. A bead of sweat trickled down Steven’s forehead. After another pause, they turned back to him with mirrored sly smirks. “Sure,” android 17 said, “We can learn to share.”  
Steven blinked in surprise as Gohan and Peridot shared confused looks. “R-really?” he asked in disbelief.  
“Of course!” the android continued, “Let’s just all be pals. In fact, let’s start it with a game of catch.” A ball of ki energy started forming in the androids hand. Steven’s eyes widened before steeling as he prepared to summon a shield. However, the android wasn’t aiming for him. Android 17 fire the ki blast...right at Peridot. The small green gem froze in shock as the energy came hurdling towards her.  
“NOOO!” Steven cried, before jumping in the way of the blast. he managed to muster up enough energy to form a bubble around them, but the energy was too strong. It popped the bubble on contact and hit the half gem dead on. A huge explosion resounded. Peridot and Gohan had to look away as the bright light from the the explosion hurt their eyes. As the smoke cleared, their eyes searched for Steven. When they saw him, he was standing...with a gaping hole where his gem should have been.  
“STEVEN!” the two cried as his body fell to the ground. They scrambled over to him. “Please Stay with us!” Peridot whispered as they did so. They turned him over, only to find his eyes were already glazed over.  
“No…” Peridot squeaked gripping the dead body, “Nonononono no!” Gohan stared at the body in shock. “This can’t be happening…” Peridot said sniffling, “he can’t be...Steven!” with that she broke down in tears.  
“Steven…” Gohan whispered, still frozen in shock. His closest friend, his cousin, now lay dead before him. His hands trembled as a spectrum of violent emotions flooded through him: Pain, guilt, sorrow, anger, hatred, loss, rage...but there was something else. Something burning deep in his soul that was slowly bubbling up to the surface.  
Before he could figure out what it was, however, Andriod 18 suddenly swooped down and grabbed Peridot by the neck. The gem squeaked as she tried to squirm out of the cyborg’s grip. “Awww, poor thing…” she tutted, “You miss your friend. How about I put you out of your misery? I’ve been needing a new necklace anyways. One to go with those blue bracelets I made awhile back.” Peridot squeaked as 18 lifted a hand to the gem’s forehead.  
“NO!” Gohan yelled. With that, the burning inside Gohan boiled over and flooded his whole being.The energy pulsed through his veins as he was consumed by a golden aura. The three inorganic beings present stared at him in awe as energy swirled around him. His hair flashed gold before staying that way, standing on end. His eyes glowed teal as he looked upon the mechanic murderers with pure rage. The androids didn’t know what to do, as they wre frozen in shock from the transformation.  
This gave Gohan enough time to fly up knee Android 18 in the stomach. “DON’T TOUCH HER!!!!!” he roared. The android let go of the gem and was sent flying into a mountain. Gohan caught the shaking gem in his arms.  
“My sister!” 17 cried, before turning his angry gaze on the half Saiyan. “You’ll pay for that!” he growled, launching himself at Gohan. but the half Saiyan simply used his free hand to grab and stop the android in his tracks. His head slowly turned to half robotic teen with a death glare plastered on his face. The android’s eyes widened before the smaller fighter kicked him in the crotch and flung him in the same direction as his twin sister.  
Peridot watched this all with wide eyes, shaking like a chihuahua. Gohan then floated to the ground and set her down next to Steven's body. “Wait here,” he growled.  
“Wha-what?!” Peridot stuttered, “Where are you going?!”  
“To finish them off!” he hissed, about to take off.  
“No!” she shouted, grabbing him before he could. He turned to her with a glower of rage, and peridot gulped for continuing. “Are you insane?! You’ll get killed, even if you caught them off guard!” she reasoned, “We already lost Steven! None of us want to lose you too!”  
“But-” he started.  
“You may be a super saiyan but they already killed one of those! They can do it again!” she snapped, tears forming in her eyes, “And if you die then...then I don’t know what I-we would do! Think of how Connie would feel! Think of how your uncle or Amethyst would feel! Think about how your MOTHER would feel!”  
Gohan stared at her her, glaring as he tried to respond. Finally he lowered his head head and nodded. The glow of the power he exuded faded as he returned to normal. He then picked her and Steven’s body up before flying home.  
….  
When they returned, the only noise that could be heard was that of mourning. Bulma and Chichi hung their heads and cried as bulma cradled her two year old, who didn’t know what was going on. Connie had collapsed over Steven’s body in a fit of tears, refusing to leave it for hours. Radditz and the other aliens had disappeared, either hiding away to cope or go on a rampage. Peridot herself had hidden away in one of the storage units in the darkest corner, staring blankly at the wall. She didn’t know what to do next. Steven, her closest friend, the one who had shown her the beauty of earth, was now gone. Her body shook as she sobbed. Suddenly, the unit was filled with light. Peridot looked up to see Gohan standing in the doorway. His face was stoic as he walked up to her and sat down. He didn’t look at her, he just stared at the corner.  
“Hey,” he finally said, “Are...you ok?”  
Peridot blinked at him as he continued not to look at her. “Yeah,” she said, “Are you?” He shrugged slightly, not moving his gaze. There was a beat of silence before she spoke again. “Thanks for saving me earlier,” she said.  
“It was nothing,” he muttered.  
She frowned at him. “It was not nothing! You saved my life from those monsters!” she said, “If you hadn’t been there, I would have been dead too.”  
He shrugged. “I promised I’d protect you,” he said simply.  
“Well...I still appreciate it,” she continued. Gohan nodded and she turned back to the corner. The two continued to sit and stare at the corner in silence.  
….  
Gohan had disappeared not long after that day. No one knew where he had gone. Peridot hadn’t stopped worrying about him after that day, so when Ruba and Trunks had brought him home with them, she had been overjoyed…That is until he started training them. Training them wasn’t the problem, but when he came back several hours after he was done training the two half saiyans beaten and bruised from trying to take down the androids, she had been furious...but she had kept for the most part quiet. She was just happy to have him back around and know he was still alive...that is until one day. The day that Trunks and Ruba had tagged along in one of his escapades and came back with him beaten and bruised like him...but they at least still had all their limbs.  
If Peridot had a heart, she would have had a heart attack when she had seen him. She felt herself freeze in a mixture of fear and anger. Once she had overcome her shock, she had immediately set to work trying to save his life. After several blood transfusions from Trunks and Ruba (thank Kai they had both been type O) and twenty four intensive hours of monitoring and surgery, he had been stabilized, and peridot let out a breath she had been holding that entire time.  
Two days later he woke up. His gaze was blurry as he stirred, but as it cleared up, he saw Peridot sitting next to him at a work bench, working on something metal. “P-peridot?” he said, squinting at her.  
“Good, you’re awake,” she said tersely, glancing over to him, “I’m almost finished.”  
“Finished with what?” he questioned. Memories suddenly came flooding back to him and he gasped, sitting straight up. “Peridot! Where are-” he started but was cut off.  
“They’re fine...which is more than I can say for you,” she snapped, “Now hold still.” She wheeled over to him with a metal arm in hand and several tools. she then exposed and unwrapped his stump. He swallowed slightly as he remember losing it. Geez that had been painful...but it certainly wasn’t as painful as what was about to come. Peridot brought some kind of tool to the stump and Gohan screamed as it reopened the wound.  
“Stop moving!” she hissed, “I need precision to attach your new limb enhancer to your nervous system!”  
“Couldn’t you get something to knock me out first?!” he snapped.  
“Oh sure and where do you think I’m gonna find morphine when it stopped being produced after those monsters blew up the last hospital within a hundred miles of here?!” she retorted.  
Gohan bowed his head and bit her lip as she began the process of attaching the arm. Twenty pain filled minutes later, it was done and she was washing her hands after setting him up for another blood transfusion. Gohan admired her work, opening and closing his mechanical palm. “Wow…” he whispered, “This is amazing! Thanks Peri!”  
Peridot simply grumbled in response. Gohan sighed. “You’re mad at me aren’t you?” he said more than asked.  
“Oh, give the man a prize!” she snapped, “At least some of that brain you used to have wasn’t knocked out of you!”  
Gohan frowned and rolled his eyes. “Ok, so why are you mad at me?”  
Peridot glared at him. “Why am I mad? Why am I mad?!” she cried, “I’ll tell you why! You disappear for over ten years without a trace! I thought you were dead! And then when you finally come back, you show up everyday with enough bruises that you look like Amethyst shapeshifted into you! And now this!” she gestured to his arm. “What are you, suicidal?!” she yelled, “Or do you just not care about the rest of us? Do you realise how much you scared Bulma and I? Your Uncle?! RUBA and TRUNKS?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!”  
Gohan glared at her. “You don’t get it. I have to protect the people of this world from them. No one else can, especially not after they paralyzed Raditz from the waist down,” he said, “I have to do this. I have to protect you and mom and the rest of the world from them. I promised I would!”  
“BUT WHO’S GONNA PROTECT YOU, YOU CLOD?!” she screeched. The room fell silent as she huffed. Once she composed herself she continued. “Listen to me and listen good, you are going to stay here and put whatever’s left of that brain of yours to good use by helping us finish the time machine,” she said, much more calmly, “You are not leaving the premise, and before you even start to help us, you are going to stay here and rest until you’ve fully recovered, got it?” When Gohan didn’t respond, she continued. “Good. Now I am going to go tell the other’s you’re awake. If you move so much as an inch, I will fuse that new arm of yours to the bedpost until further notice,” she threatened.  
Gohan’s mouth became a thin line before he sighed and smiled. “Fine,” he said. Peridot nodded and gave him an “I’m watching you” look before leaving the room. The next morning, Peridot found his bed empty with only a piece of paper with “I’m sorry” written on it.  
Peridot crinkled up the paper as she growled. “That stupid clod! Just what does he think he’s doing?!” she muttered to herself as Trunks and Ruba went out searching for him. Peridot dropped the page as she felt a sinking feeling overwhelm her. “I hope he’s ok…” she thought aloud.  
…..  
“That IDIOT!” Peridot hissed as tears streamed down her face. She had hid herself in the corner of her work room, still clutching the note in her hand. A few days later, Trunks and Ruba had found him...and brought his body back. When Peridot saw the mauled figure she used to call her friend, she froze. She felt so hollow and numb and cold, like she was a porcelain doll. And after a few moments of shock someone took a sledgehammer to that doll and she fell apart. It was like losing Steven all over again only somehow worse. She had seen this coming, she could have prevented it...if only she had stayed by his bedside that night, kept him from leaving. Peridot sobbed. It was too late now. It didn’t matter. Nothing did anymore.  
She didn’t know how long she had spent in that darkened room. It could have been days. It could have been weeks. She didn’t know. She didn’t care. As far as she was concerned the world could be falling apart around her and she wouldn’t know. She could just stay like this, immobile and collecting dust like the rock she was.  
Bulma on the other hand, had other ideas. Peridot glared at the wall she was facing as the light streamed into the room. “Go. Away,” she stated.  
“Peridot, come on. I need your help,” Bulma responded. Peridot turned to her. The old woman’s eyes were red and puffy, though her face was stoic.  
“Why?” she questioned, “what’s the point?”  
“Because we stop this from ever happening!” she exclaimed.  
“No we can’t,” Peridot said hopelessly, “Gohan couldn’t even stop them, and he was stronger than Vegeta or Piccolo ever were. If he couldn’t nothing can.”  
Bulma frowned. She was right. Even if they went back to give them a heads up, there was no telling if that would be enough. Then an idea came to mind. “But we don’t need to fight them,” she stated. Peridot gave her a confused look.  
“The past can change. If we warn them, they can track down the scientist that built them and stop him before he has the chance or wish them away with the dragon balls!” she said, “And we still have the medicine. If we save Goku, that could change everything.”  
Peridot’s eyes. widened with realization. “We can still save them…” she whispered, “I can save him…”  
Bulma nodded. Peridot turned back to the wall for a moment before getting up and grabbing her tools. A look of determination crossed her face as she marched passed Bulma and grabbed her hand.  
“Hey!” the old woman started as she was dragged along, “Slow down! I can’t move as fast as I used to!”  
“Sorry, but we don’t have time to lose,” Peridot said, “They’re getting closer every day. If we’re going to do this, we have to start now.” “Don’t worry, Gohan,” she thought as she marched to the lab with a purpose, “I’m going to protect you. I’m going to protect you, and Steven, and everyone else. I promise.”


	65. Getting Crushed

In hindsight,maybe they should have just been direct with the guy… Connie and Steven looked on nervously from the loft at the top of the barn as Jamie stood below, calling for Raditz. “I received your letter, and I am overjoyed you reciprocate my feelings! My sun, scorch me with your fire!” he cried, “Come to me, my love!”  
“What do we do?” Steven whispered to Connie nervously.  
“I don’t know!” she hissed back.  
“Uh...Raditz can’t see you right now,” Steven called down, “He’s not here!”  
“Well, when will my lover return?” Jamie asked. His eyes shined with glee, making Steven sweat nervously.   
“Um…..” he started, but was cut off by another voice.  
“What’s with all the noise?” someone called from within. Raditz stepped up to the window of the loft glaring at the too children as he rubbed his eyes. “I was trying to take a nap! What the heck is going on?” he questioned. He then spotted Jamie. “What the hell is he doing here?!” he snapped.  
“Uhhhhh…..” The two children uttered as they looked away nervously.  
“My dear Raditz!” Jamie cried, “There you are! I received your note, and I understand! Now let us run away together to the Crab Shack for a romantic lunch together.”  
Raditz blinked in surpise. “I’m sorry, what?” he said clearing his ear with his pinkie finger.  
“Lunch! Together! Just the two of us for a romantic afternoon!” Jamie proclaimed, “What do you say?”  
Raditz processed what was going on and turned to glare at the two children. “What the hell did you do?” he demanded, “I thought I told you to tell him to buzz off?”  
“We did!” Steven started.  
“But we tried to let him down gently...and it may have backfired…” Connie explained looking at her feet.  
Raditz sighed before pinching the bridge of his nose. “No,” he stated simply bringing his hand away from his face.  
Jamie faltered. “W-what?” he stuttered.  
“What are you, deaf? I said no!” he shouted down, “I am not now nor will I ever go eat lunch or any other meal with you!”  
“But your letter!” Jamie argued desperately.  
“I didn’t write that crap!” Raditz snapped, “It was these two knuckleheads!” He jabbed his thumb at Steven and Connie. Both smiled and waved sheepishly.  
“So you don’t return my feelings?” Jamie said, heart sinking.  
“Hell no!” Raditz shouted, “You’re a clingy, scrawny, pathetic runt of a man! I’ve seen things that shoot up from the ground that could put up more of a fight than you could! I wouldn’t want anything to do with you if you were the last sentient creature alive on the planet. Now scram!” The mailman stared at the Saiyan in shock for a moment. Everything was silent for a few seconds before Jamie ran away crying. Steven and Connie looked at the fleeing mailman with pity. “Good riddance…” Raditz said, walking back into the barn.  
…..  
It had been several days since the incident, and Jamie was a wreck. He hadn’t come into work that entire time. He apparently hadn't even left his house in that time. Steven and Connie had gotten worried, and had attempted to visit him at his apartment, but he wouldn't answer the door. He would just tell them to go away. It was then that they realised there was only one person who could fix this.  
“Come on Raditz! Please?” Steven begged.  
“No! Why should I help you cheer him up?” Raditz said, “The kid needs to get over it on his own. He’s not going to get anywhere in life if he doesn't toughen up!”  
“But he hasn't left his house in days! And you were the one who upset him in the first place!” Steven argued.  
“And I wouldn’t have had too if you two just told him I wasn't interested in the first place!” the giant saiyan snapped.  
“But-” Connie started.  
“I said no!” he said rolling over on the haystack he was reclining on.  
Steven pouted before an idea came to mind. “I’ll get you all the fries you want from the fry shack if you do!” he offered.  
Raditz scoffed. “You really think you can bribe me with food?” he chuckled, “I may be a saiyan but I’m not a glutton like my brother. You’re gonna have to try a lot harder than that!”  
Steven looked down in defeat. Then Connie got an idea and an evil smirk crossed her face. “If you don’t cheer him up,” she said, “I’ll tell Chichi that you’ve been cursing and making dirty jokes around Gohan!”  
Raditz rolled over and gave her a serious look. He remembered the last time his brother’s wife had caught him cursing in front of her son. He had never expected that woman to be so strong...or so loud. He subconsciously rubbed his left ear and shuddered. He still swore that ear still had some damage. Whether it was from her screeching or her nearly tearing it off, he didn’t know. He glared at the girl standing before him. “You wouldn't dare!” he hissed.  
“Try me,” she said crossing her arms.   
Raditz glowered at her before starting to get up. “You evil little brat!” he growled, “fine…I’ll go make the little runt feel better.” Steven and Connie high fived as he started walking to the door.  
…..  
Raditz stood at the door of the mail carrier’s home. He looked to around the corner here the two children watched him, giving him a thumbs up. He glared at them before pounding on the door. “Hey! Jamie or whatever your name is! Open up!” He demanded.  
There was a scurry to the door and it opened up to reveal a very frazzled looking Jamie staring up at him shock while wearing in pajamas. “You..wha…” He stuttered.  
“Well? Are you going to let me in or what?” the saiyan said, tail swishing in annoyance.  
“Oh! Yes! Of course!” he said, opening the door, “Please come in.” Raditz ducked before entering his home. He sat himself down on the couch, and Jamie scurried up to him. “W-would you like some coffee?” he offered, “Tea maybe?”  
“No….thank you…” he said crossing his arms. Jamie paused before nodding and sitting down.  
There was an awkward silence between them for a moment. “So…” Jamie said, “I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you here?”  
Raditz sighed. “I came to apologise,” he said.  
Jamie’s eyes lit up. “Does this mean you changed your mind?” He asked.  
“No!” Raditz snapped. He sighed as he watched Jamie slump in disappointment. “I came to apologize for being so harsh. I was tired and crabby,” he explained, “What I meant to say earlier, was that you aren’t my type.”  
“Oh, so you just don’t like men,” Jamie nodded in understanding.  
“Yes, I mean, no! I mean….grrrrr….” the saiyan rubbed a hand over his face to relieve his frustration before continuing, “WHAT I MEAN is that your personality is not the kind I am interested in! I don’t like passive, dependent partners, no matter the race or gender!” Jamie nodded in understanding. “Now I’m sure there’s some human out there that likes that kind of thing, so you should really be looking for someone like that and stop focusing on me,” Raditz explained, “Because honestly, I would not be good for you.”  
Jamie gave him a confuse look. “Why? I mean I know you have a temper, but you seem like a nice person deep down…” he argued.  
Raditz crooked an eyebrow at him. “I am a reforming fugitive alien from a warrior race who holds a body count that exceeds triple digits,” he said in a deadpan voice, “I used to work for the universe’s worst crime lord and have several hefty bounties on my head. My hands are registered weapons of mass destruction and I am famous for having a bad temper. Do you really want to be involved with someone like me?”  
Jamie looked up at him fearfully before slowly shaking his head “no.” “Good,” Raditz said getting up. He patted Jamie’s head roughly before walking towards the door. “See ya then,” he said before muttering to himself, “hopefully not.” He ducked again and exited the small home, leaveing Jamie alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to do something a little lighter after the last chapter. Hope you guys like it!


	66. Too Many Birthdays

Vegeta crossed his arms and glared at the the scene before him. This was all Kakarot’s fault. Why did he have to answer the boy honestly when he asked what the best birthday party he had was? Though in all fairness he really couldn’t have predicted Steven’s reaction. He didn't understand why the boy got so upset. It didn’t really matter to the three of them that they never had a birthday party. Or at least for the prince, not since he was four, but that was besides the point. It never felt particularly important to any of them so long as they knew roughly how old they were, and Rose always showed how much she cared for them and how important the three were to her on a regular basis. Plus, Goku was the only one who actually enjoyed social events for anything more than food, and even he thought this was a bit much.  
“Steven, as nice as this is, you really don’t have to do this,” the taller saiyan currently wearing the party crown interjected, “I get enough cake and festive foods at other parties and stuff, and I don’t need any gifts. I don’t even think it’s any of our birthdays anyway so there’s no point in celebrating now.”  
“That's ok. consider this a make up birthday for all the ones you missed!” Steven said as he pulled out two small battery operated cars. “Let’s start off with kazoo racers! You guys remember how my dad gets me up early on my birthday so I can ride around in these. It’s a lot of fun! Come on, I’ll show you!”  
Goku scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he looked down at the tiny cars while Steven struggled to climb inside one. The two other warriors gave each other confused looks. “Steven, I don’t think I’ll be able to fit in that,” Goku said in concern, “Especially considering you’re even having trouble getting inside it.”  
“Maybe Vegeta could fit in one though….” Piccolo said with a smirk.  
“Hey!” the shorter Saiyan snapped.  
“What? Oh…” Steven said, realisation dawning on him and he frowned, “I-I guess you’re right…” Steven looked down sadly.  
“Hey! Don’t feel down!” Goku said trying to make him feel better, “I’m sure it would have been super fun! We’d just need something bigger, like segways!” Then a thoughtful look came to the Saiyan’s face. “Actually, I’ve always wanted to try running around on a segway scooter….” he noted, bringing a finger to his chin.  
“What Goku’s trying to say is, how about we try something else for now?” Piccolo said.  
Steven smiled. “Yeah!” he said. Maybe things would get better if they did something else.  
…  
Things were not going well at all. Steven had tried a lot of things, cake, water balloons, even piñatas, but nothing seemed to end well. Vegeta and Goku got competitive with the water balloons and turned a simple game into a battle field and caused some serious property damage, the cake (which was meant for piccolo) turned into a bust when Steven remembered that the green alien didn't eat, and as for the Piñata….well it ended up as a smoking pile of ash with Goku mourning over it for the candy that had been inside.  
Steven only had one last option left...hopefully it would work. After all, who doesn’t like jokes? Steven now stood in clown gear before the three very confused warriors. Vegeta was now the one wearing the birthday crown. I his arms were crossed over his chest and he wore a very annoyed expression.  
“Steven is the wig really necessary?” Piccolo asked.  
“Yeah, I’m a clown! I’m supposed to wear it. It’s funny!” He said, “Now check this out! I’ve got some killer jokes for you!” Steven pulled out a sheet before reading aloud, “ Why did Piccolo throw a stick of butter out the window?” He asked. The warriors didn’t respond and just gave him blank looks. “To see a butterfly!” he finished. No one laughed. Not even Goku. Steven frowned. Time to bring out the big guns.  
Steven grabbed a pie off the prop table. “Ok, since you guys didn’t like that one, how about some pie instead?” he said.  
Goku perked up. “Oh boy, what flavor?” He asked.  
Steven smiled. “You’ll have to find out when I get it to you!” He said as he walked towards them. “Whoops!” he said, purposely tripping over. Before he could slam the pie in his face, however, Goku caught him.  
“That was a close one!” he said, “you really need to watch your step. You almost-” Before Goku could say another word, Steven slammed the pie in his own face, causing the Saiyan to gasp. “Steven!” Goku cried, “Why did you do that? You wasted a perfectly good pie!”  
Steven frowned. “Guys, calm down. It’s supposed to be funny! You thought so, right Piccolo?” he said turning to the green warrior.   
The Namekian looked away and shrugged. “Not really…” he said.  
“What?” Steven said.  
“That’s it. I’m out of here,” Vegeta said getting up.  
“Vegeta! Wait! Why are you leaving, I still have more stuff for you guys!” Steven cried.  
“I’m not going to watch my pupil make a fool of himself. If you need me, I’ll be at the temple,” he said before flying up.  
Piccolo sighed before getting up too. “Thanks for trying, kid, but we’re just not into all this kiddie stuff. You can enjoy it if you like, but we’re all a little too old for it,” he said, “Come on, Goku. Let’s head back to the temple and clean up.” Goku turned to the boy and gave an appologetic shrug before taking off as well with piccolo, leaving the boy behind.  
….  
An hour or so later, the three warriors were still picking up the aftermath of Steven’s attempt at birthday parties. “I don’t get how the kid managed to create such a disaster with these decorations in such a short time,” Vegeta muttered.  
“What I don’t get is why you’re still wearing that crown,” Piccolo countered.  
It was true, the shorter saiyan still had the plastic crown sitting on his head and the red cape wrapped around him. Vegeta glared at him. “I’m a prince. You have no right to question me for wearing it,” he retorted.  
“Hey, is that Lion?” Goku questioned as he held a hand up to his forehead and squinted his eyes. The two other aliens turned to see what he was looking at. As the big cat got closer, they noticed he was carrying something, but what they didn’t know…..that is until lion dumped it in front of them.  
They stared in shock and confusion at the elderly form that lay before them. “Who is that?!” Goku questioned.  
“I think it’s Steven!” Piccolo stated in shock.  
“What? That’s impossible!” Vegeta responded, “...Isn't it?”  
“Hey guys…” The elderly form wheezed in a familiar voice.  
The three all took a step back. “I-it is Steven!” Goku cried. He then knelt down next to him, looking at the elderly boy with worry as he gripped his shoulders as gently as possible. “What happened? Who did this too you?!” he pleaded. Before Steven could say anything, he glowed pink and aged even further. Goku jumped back in surprise.  
“That glow! It’s his gem powers!” Piccolo exclaimed, “They’re messing with his age some how!”  
“We made him feel bad about his age…” Goku realised with deep guilt, “And now his aging’s all crazy because of it! This is terrible! Can he age himself to death?!”  
“No!” Vegeta snapped, trying to keep his panic under control, “He’s not going to age himself to death. That’s-” He was suddenly cut off by Steven having another sudden age spurt. Vegeta’s eyes widened in horror before turning back to Goku. “...That’s not going to happen because we’re going to fix it!” he finished.  
Piccolo nodded. “Steven, what can we do? What do you need?” he questioned.  
“My birthday suit might help…” he offered weakly. Vegeta immediately ripped off the cape and crown and threw them on the boy. It did nothing.   
“Grrr….Why isn’t it working?!” Vegeta demanded, pulling on his hair, “You said this is what you needed right?!”  
“I’m sorry guys…” Steven said, “We had a good run, but I guess this suit is all out of Birthday magic.” He smiled weakly at them, before aging again. Piccolo and Vegeta both froze.  
Goku jumped back before getting an idea. “More birthdays!” He shouted before running off. He came back with one of the tiny cars. “Look Steven! A tiny car!” he cried presenting it. That only made things worse. He bit his lip before running off again and coming back with a pie. “Look Steven! I’m wasting pie!” he exclaimed, forcing a smile, before, slamming it into Piccolo’s face.  
The namekian screamed in pain as the tin fell away. “YOU GOT IT INTO MY EYES!” he cried, clutching his face, “What the hell is wrong with you?!”  
“Sorry!” Goku said trying to help the green alien, “I was just trying too…” It was then that he noticed Steven had aged again. He looked desperately to the other Saiyan. “Vegeta, what are we going to do?” he cried, tears starting to form. The prince didn’t respond. His eyes were closed, with a scowl on his face. His fists were clenched and his arms were shaking as he slowly approached Steven and gently picked him up by the shoulders. Piccolo and Goku looked to him with hopeful confusion..before Vegeta started to violently shake him.  
“Snap out of it!” he demanded as he shook him, “Stop getting older! Change back you little-”  
“VEGETA STOP!” the two other aliens shouted before forcing the prince to drop him.   
“I-I thought…” he muttered, hopelessness crossing his face as he watched the boy age again, “I thought I could scare him back to normal…”  
The three looked down fearfully and hopelessly at the decrepitly old body of their young ward. Tears formed in their eyes as they watched him slowly take his last breaths. They felt trapped: stuck in a corner with no way out. Vegeta especially felt that way. And because of that, he did the only thing he knew how to do in such a situation.   
He growled and balled his hands into fists before slamming one into Goku’s face and knocking him over. “This is all your fault!” he cried, angry tears streaming down his face, “If you hadn’t told him you never had a birthday party, this never would have happened!”  
“What?! Hey! At least I was trying to make him feel better about it!” The taller Saiyan retorted, picking himself up.  
“Don’t try to shove the blame on us! You were the one who said he was making a fool of himself!” Piccolo argued.   
“SHUT UP, YOU OVERGROWN SLUG! LIKE YOU SAID MUCH BETTER,” Vegeta responded, preparing to fire a ki blast at him. He was interrupted, however, by Steven.  
“Would you guys, just please,” he tried to shout as his gem activated, turning him back into an adult, “Control yourselves?!” The Z warriors stopped and stared staring at him in shock. Steven shrunk under their gazes. “Ugh, oh no,” he muttered before transforming into a teenager, “Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled.” he blushed before continuing. “But I can't stand to see you freaking out like this!” he cried before aging back into an adult.  
They all blinked in surpise. “Wha-?” Goku uttered.  
“Steven’s changing!” Vegeta exclaimed in shock.  
“His age is fluctuating!” Piccolo exclaimed, “I think his gem is reacting to his state of mind.”  
“Steven!” Goku cried, “Stop! Feeling! Old!”  
Steven looked at them in confusion as he transformed into teen. “But I wasted your time…” he muttered. He then transformed back into old man. “We all have such little ti-ime…” he noted somberly.  
“STEVEN NO!” they all cried at once, throwing their hands up.  
“Stop doubting yourself!” Goku pleaded, “Just be yourself! Sweet and considerate and enthusiastic!”  
Steve. transformed back into teen. “You really think I'm all those things?” he whispered.  
“Yes!”Vegeta responded.  
“Why else would you throw us all those parties?” Piccolo added.  
“Oh my gosh, you're right!” He cried as he shrunk back to his old self, “I am pretty great.”  
Joy filled Goku’s eyes as both Piccolo and Vegeta breathed sighs of relief. “Steven!” Goku cried as he scooped the boy up in a bone crushing hug, “We’re so glad you’re ok!”  
“You’re...crushing...me!” he gasped as the tall Saiyan continued to squeeze him.  
Vegeta ran a hand down his face and Piccolo’s shoulders slumped under an invisible weight. “Thank Kami that’s over,” Vegeta sighed.  
“Yeah...This kid is going to be the death of us,” Piccolo stated. Vegeta nodded in agreement.


	67. The Hell's a Kami?!

Vegeta was not fond of secrets. Or surprises for that matter. It had been his own personal experience that had told him neither of them were good things. That’s why he wasn’t too happy when he found out why no one was at the temple when he returned from visiting Vidalia early. When he had originally returned, he had expected to find at least Goku there waiting for him, but it was completely desolate. He had searched the many halls of the temple, and almost every room he could find, but still he could not find anyone. Maybe they had gone training at the sky temple. As he exited the temple to help to the warp pad to join them, the pad lit up and goku appeared.  
“Hi Vegeta!” he called to the elder Saiyan.  
“Where have you been?” he questioned, “Where’s Rose?”  
“I was at the Lookout,” Goku said with a shrug, “Rose had to go on a mission so she had me stay with Kami at the lookout for an hour or so.”  
“Kami?” Vegeta asked, “Who’s Kami?”  
Goku smiled. “He’s really cool! He’s Earth’s guardian and a close friend of Rose,” he explained, “He’s really strong and Rose used to have me train with him when she was busy.”   
Vegeta’s widened for a moment before his brow furrowed. Rose hadn't told him anything about this Kami person. He wouldn’t have been upset if Goku hadn't mentioned that he had trained Goku. If he was going to train to be ready to face Frieza, he would need all the help he could get. So why had she hidden this option from him? “Kakarot, why has this ‘Kami’ never come up in conversation before?” Vegeta asked.  
Goku shrugged. “I dunno,” he said honestly, “but would you like to go meet him?” Vegeta smiled and nodded. If Rose wasn’t going to introduce him to this Kami person, at least he could count on Her protoge to do so. The pair then hopped back onto the warp pad.  
…  
When they landed on the Lookout warp pad, there was no one around. “You wait here Vegeta,” the smaller Saiyan said, “I’ll go find Kami and bring him here to introduce him to you.”  
“Wouldn’t it be smarter if we both went looking for him?” Vegeta questioned, raising an eyebrow.  
“I don’t think that’d be a good idea,” Goku responded, “He doesn’t really like new visitors. Rose said he gets pretty upset when people show up out of the blue.”   
Vegeta folded his arms and frowned, but didn’t argue any further. “Fine, but you better find him quickly,” he grumbled. With that, the younger Saiyan sprinted off.  
Kami was surprised when he heard the chime of the warp pad. He thought Goku had left already. Had he forgotten something? “Goku?” he called, getting closer to the warp pad room. He stopped, however, as his antenna suddenly twitched. He could sense an unfamiliar power emanating from the room, and a particularly strong one at that. Kami cautiously entered the room, unsure of what he would find. However, nothing could prepare him for what he saw: a small Saiyan teen sitting on the warp pad. Kami’s eyes were wide and he nearly dropped his staff. What was that thing doing here?! How did it even get here in the first place?!   
The teen smirked as he turned to look at him. “Well, well, well look what I’ve found,” he said, “I guess good things really do come to those who wait.” “You must be Kami, correct?” he said standing up.  
The elderly Namekian blinked in surprise before glaring at him. “How do you know who I am?” QHe questioned.  
“The runt told me,” Vegeta explained unfolding his arms, “Which is good for me considering Rose wasn’t going to.” The Saiyan prince noted the last part bitterly. He still didn’t understand why she hadn’t told him about Kami.   
Kami’s eyes widened in shock before narrowing again. He took up a fighting stance. “How do you know Rose?” he demanded. Kami could feel fear and worry for his dear friend and her little charge as well as anger. In the years he spent on earth, he had become more attached to the pair than any other creature. Rose had been with him through thick and thin. He couldn’t imagine seeing her hurt or worse. Even the little Saiyan child had wormed his way into the old Namekian’s heart after all the time he spent looking after him for her. His hands shook as he gripped his staff. He swore, if this little monster had hurt either of them, he would make him wish he was never born.  
Vegeta’s eyes widened before narrowing agian in anger. She didn’t even tell this man about him? To an extent, Vegeta could understand her not mentioning Kami to him, but how could she never tell this person who was supposed to be a close friend of hers about him?! He was her apprentice! Shouldn’t she be bragging about his progress or at least mention him when talking about Goku’s? Had she no pride in him? This made him furious.”I’m her apprentice, damnit!” he snarled, “Prince Vegeta! Does that not ring a bell to you?”  
Kami blinked in surprise. He didn’t know what exactly he had expected the Saiyan child to say, but it certainly wasn’t that. “Her...Apprentice?” Kami repeated, lowering his staff.  
“Yes her apprentice!” Vegeta repeated, still angry.  
“But I thought Goku was her only charge!” Kami argued.  
“Yeah, and I thought she wouldn’t be hiding something as important as the guardian of the world from me, but I guess we were both wrong,” Vegeta snapped.  
Kami frowned and gritted his teeth. This is the second time she pulled this. He wasn’t mad that the boy was Saiyan. After Goku he had almost expected her to take in another dangerous alien life form and make it her new pet. But why did she have to hide it from him? It’s not like he had any way of stopping her! They were supposed to be allies! They couldn’t keep these kinds of things secret from each other like this! “That's it,” Kami grumbled, “I’m calling her up. She has a lot of explaining to do!” He began marching out of the room.   
“Count me in on that,” Vegeta added, “I have a few words I’d like to share with her too.” With that the pair left the room.  
Just as they did so, Goku came running back in. “Sorry, Geta, but I couldn’t find-” he started before he noticed the other Saiyan was no longer there. “Vegeta?” he called looking around in confusion, “Vegeta, where’d you go?” He then ran off to look for the taller boy. Hopefully he hadn’t run into Kami yet. He couldn’t see them getting off to a good start without a proper introduction.  
…  
In the depths of the murky swamp a mighty roar could be heard as the tall pink gem fought against a large, shimmering white alligator-catfish creature. She stood inside its mouth, desperately trying to keep it from closing down around her. Sweat beads had formed on her forehead. One slip up and those jaws would close down around her. She couldn’t see how situation could get much worse.  
“Rose, are you there?” a familiar voice called in her head.  
She blinked in surprise. Why was Kami calling her? He knew she was on a mission, right? Was there an emergency. “Yes, what is it?” she responded.  
“I need you to come to the lookout as soon as possible. We need to have a talk,” he said. He sounded slightly annoyed.  
She mentally sighed as she continued to struggle against the giant maw. “I’m a little busy right now. Can’t it wait?” she asked  
“No, it very well can’t!” a different, though also very familiar voice snapped.   
Rose’s eyes widened in shock. “Vegeta?!” she said aloud. At that moment, her hand slipped and the mouth of the gem beast closed down around her. The beast licked its lips after it swallowed her. Then, its eyes suddenly widened as a pink sword pierced its throat. The corrupted ivory receded back into its gem in a puff of smoke, causing Rose to fall back into the water.   
“Vegeta?! What are you doing up there?” rose demanded as she picked up the gem and bubbled it, “How did you even there?”  
“Finding out your little secret! Kakarot showed me through the warp pad,” the teen responded tersely, “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, you know that?”  
Rose sighed again as she sent the bubble away. “I know. I’ll be there in a minute. I just need to get back to the warp pad,” she responded as she crawled out of the swap. She knew this day would becoming. She never expected to hide them from each other forever. She just hoped she could figure out a perfect time to introduce them an explain everything like with Goku. “Looks like it’s going to be now whether I like it or not…” she thought as her shoulders slumped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its been so long since I've posted a new chapter. I've been busy with summer classes and other fics. I've actually started working on a new fanfiction crossover between blue exocist and FMA entitled "Charges of the Flame Alchemist" staring Roy Mustang and the Okumura brothers. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. Have an awesome day!


	68. Greg the Aliensitter

Piccolo knew humans were not exactly fond of him. They took to the saiyans better because they resembled mankind more closely. He was different from them. He was strange. He was inhuman. But he was fine with this, as he wasn’t too fond of humans either. They could think what they wanted of him. He didn’t need them. He had Rose. They could go on and do their own things so long as he had her to look after him.  
However, he didn’t seem to have her attention quite as much anymore as she began to bring that human named Greg around. Piccolo didn’t understand this. Why did this human have such an interest in Rose? More importantly, why did she have such an interest in him? He had only spoken with her a few times.  
He had watched the pair of them on many occasions. He would follow her around much like he did. He would make her laugh and smile. Piccolo frowned. That was his job….well, and Goku’s and Vegeta’s, but mostly his. Nonetheless it annoyed him. He supposed that wouldn’t bother him as much if he knew why she liked the human so much. He wasn’t a terrible human...there just wasn’t anything special about him. He reacted the same way as any other human when any of them said or did something that humans don’t usually do. Like when he tried to offer him food and Piccolo had told him he didn’t eat, he tried to deny it at first.  
“How can something not eat?” he had asked.  
Piccolo shrugged. “I just don’t,” he responded bluntly.  
Piccolo tried to watch him to figure out what she liked about him. He followed him without him knowing, but no matter how closely he watched him, he could never put his finger on what it was. He tried asking Goku why he liked him, but his answer didn’t make any sense.  
“Well, he’s just a really nice guy,” he said, “He’s goofy and fun to be around. I like his jokes a lot and he thinks my martial arts are cool. And Rose likes him, so I like him!”  
“But why does Rose like him?” Piccolo asked.  
Goku thought for a moment before shrugging. “I don’t know,” he said, “He’s a nice person so there’s no reason for her not to like him. Maybe it’s like Bulma and Yamcha. I don’t know why they are always around each other, but they are. More than Vidalia and Vegeta. Sometimes it looks like they are stuck together…except when they’re fighting.”  
Piccolo had no idea who Yamcha and Bulma were, but he didn’t think he’d understand even if he did. As time went on, he became more and more frustrated with this Greg issue. Why wasn’t there just a simple answer? What was so special about this human? He was just like any other wasn’t he?  
One day, Piccolo finally got his answer. Vegeta and Goku were off hunting somewhere and Rose had to go speak with Kami for a while. Piccolo was not fond of the older Namekian, and to be honest, Kami wasn’t exactly comfortable around him either. So Rose had one option: have Greg look after him for the day.  
“Be good for Greg, alright?” she said, leaning down to look him in the eye. Piccolo simply pouted and puffed out his cheeks. “Piccolo…” she warned.  
“Ok…” he huffed in a child like manner.  
“Come on kid,” Greg said extending his hand out to him, “It’ll be fun. You’ll see.” Piccolo didn’t believe him but took his hand anyways. The man lead him over to his van. “I’ve got a treat for you,” he said, pulling a juice pouch out of a box, “It’s not cold, but I hope you don’t mind. Rose said you liked this kind, right?”  
Piccolo took the pouch and examined it. He nodded as he found it was blue raspberry flavored. He liked that kind. He stuck the straw in the pouch and began to slurp up the drink.  
“So…” Greg asked awkwardly, “Do you like music?”  
Piccolo thought for a second. He had heard Rose singing before and that was nice. That counted as music. But he had also heard Goku try to sing…. He wasn’t sure what that counted as. Piccolo shrugged, more concerned with his juice.  
“Well then, Here!” he said, pulling out a record player and hooking it up to a stereo. “Let me share some of my tunes with you.” He put on the record and set it to play. “This is by a band called the Turning Stones,” he explains, “They’re a really popular human band and-”  
“Stop it!” Piccolo demanded, clutching his ears, “Stop it stop it stop it!”  
“Oh crud!” Greg yelped before taking the record of the turntable, “Aw man, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know how sensitive your ears were…” He tried to get close to examine him, but the tiny Namekian glared at him and moved away.  
Greg bit his lip. He felt terrible. He really didn’t want to upset the kid. Rose had trusted him to look after him and he felt terrible. Honestly, he wanted to be closer to the little guy. He wanted to be closer with all her “children.” He figured it must be weird to see their mom with someone. He didn’t want to intrude on their lives but he did want to at least get along with them...which would have been hard already if they were only human but being aliens it added a whole nother layer of awkward. He didn’t know anything about their races or what could set them off. Goku was the only one so far that genuinely liked him. He was pretty sure Vegeta only tolerated his existence because both Rose and Vidalia liked him. And now he was sure that Piccolo was on the road to disliking him too.  
“Look, I’m really sorry,” he said, “Is there some way I can make it up to you?” Then a thought came to his mind. “Oh! I know!” He went into the back of his van and pulled out a box of sidewalk chalk. “Here,” he said, holding it out to him, “You can have this.”   
Piccolo took it and frowned. “I told you I don’t eat,” he stated.  
“No, it’s not for eating, its for playing with,” he explained, “come on, let me show you.” He grabbed his guitar case and took him by the hand as he headed up onto the sidewalk.  
….  
Piccolo had taken to the chalk pretty quickly. Although he was disappointed there was no green at first he still seemed to enjoy it. Greg strummed his guitar, playing a song quietly as Piccolo played on sidewalk. Occasionally someone would come by and drop some money in his case but it was otherwise pretty quiet.   
“So…” he asked, “How long has Rose been looking after you?”  
“A year,” Piccolo responded, not looking up.  
“Oh,” he asked, “Where were you living before then?” He didn't know if that was an ok question to ask or not, but he didn’t know what else to say.  
“I wasn’t,” Piccolo said simply.  
Greg blinked in surprise. “Come again?” he asked.  
“I wasn’t alive,” he explained, “Rose found me as an egg when I hatched.”  
“Oh,” Greg said, “Ok then.” He sure was one big one year old... “So...do you have any little friends around here?” he asked.  
“No,” he said.  
“Aww why not?” he asked.  
“Because people think I’m strange,” he stated.   
Greg blinked in surprise. Did the kid really think he was weird? “You’re not strange,” Greg insisted.  
“To humans I am,” he said simply, “I’m green, I don’t eat, and I don’t have hair.”  
“Yeah, but everyone’s a little different,” he said, “And that's ok.”  
“I know it is,” Piccolo said tersely not looking up. “Rose said that all creatures are unique and different.” The two fell into silence as the kid continued drawing.   
Suddenly someone on a bike rode past, a little to close to Piccolo for comfort. The kid jumped in surprise. He dropped his chalk and yelped. The child growled and glared at the man as he rode along without a second thought.  
“Piccolo!” Greg cried, “Hey are you ok?” He looked the little Namekian over but he pushed him away, pouting at being fussed over. He knelt back down to continue his drawing when he realised something.   
“My chalk!” he exclaimed, “Where is it?!” He looked around for it, but it was nowhere to be seen.   
“Hey calm down,” Greg said, “It’s ok, we’ll find it.” But before he could say more, Piccolo spotted it down the boardwalk. The little alien ran towards it, paying no mind to Greg's protests...nor the humans practically standing on top of it. It was tourist season and as such the woman and her daughter knew nothing about the small town. It was their first time here. As they waited in line for fries at the Fryshack, the daughter noticed the piece of chalk roll up to her. She picked it up and examined it curiously.  
“Give that back!” she heard a voice cry. The little girl looked up to see something green running towards her. It had sharp teeth, big claws, and antenna. It looked angry,   
The little girl shrieked and tugged on her mother’s skirt. “M-monster!” she cried, “Mommy! There’s a monster that wants to eat me!” Piccolo paused in his pace at her words. What did she say. The mother looked in his direction and a look of shock and fear came over her face.  
What the heck is that?!” she cried, “It looks like a gremlin!”  
Piccolo’s eyes widened for a moment as her words hit him. “I’m not a gremlin!” he growled, clenching his fists.  
The mother didn’t listen. “Stay away from that thing, Katie!” she cried picking up her daughter and running away.   
Piccolo stared at them as they ran off. His face scrunched up and his fists shook. He wasn’t a monster or a gremlin. “I’m not…” he muttered. Those humans were stupid. They didn’t know what they were talking about. Right?  
“Piccolo!” Greg called as he caught up to him, “Hey, little buddy, are you alright?”  
“‘M fine!” he muttered as he sniffled slightly.  
Greg gave a concerned look. He had heard the girl scream. Although the kid probably didn’t want to admit it, something like that probably would cut deep for him. “Hey,” he said, “It’s ok. Those guys? They don’t know what they were talking about.” He put a hand on the kid’s shoulder. “The last thing you are is a monster,” he said, causing the alien child to look up at him, “If anything, I think you’re pretty out of this world!” He smiled at Piccolo, and Piccolo stopped sniffling. “Come on,” he said, “let’s gather up your stuff and get you another juice pouch. Rose is probably back by now.”  
The tiny Namekian took his hand and followed him. As they walked along he was lost in his own thoughts. Maybe this was why Rose liked him so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jeez it's been a long time since I've worked on thins fic! Sorry guys. I've been busy with other stories like my "charges of the flame alchemist". I've had this chapter in mind for a while though, and with the release of babysitter greg, I guess it was the perfect time to finish it. Speaking of which? What are your guy's thoughts on the Summer of Steven so far? Let me know what you think!


End file.
